Just One Drop
by ElenaxoxoSilber
Summary: When Hayley, Kylie, and Taylor, three normal teenagers, go on adventure together, it soon changes their lives...forever.
1. New Beginnings

_**Chapter One:**_

_**New Beginnings**_

_**Chapter Song: Tyrant by OneRepublic**_

I blinked a few times before I actually opened my eyes. My lids slowly rose up, but once they were raised, they fell back into tiny slits. The sun was shining right into my eyes and I was squinting. My head was leaning against the window. I could tell by the stiffness of my neck I was sleeping for a while. I sat up and rolled my head a couple times to get rid of the stiffness. Running my fingers through my hair, I tried to shake off the groggy feeling that was over me like a blanket.

"Ah, good afternoon sleepy head." My dad kept his attention towards the road that he was driving on.

"Where are we?" I asked my parents as I took a peak out the window.

"Florida. Do you not remember the plane landing in Jacksonville six hours ago?" Logan, my ten-year-old brother spoke to me like I was an idiot. I groaned. "Obviously Logan. I didn't know if we were here yet." He rolled his eyes and went back to playing his video game.

"Now, now, settle down." My mom hushed.

"We'll be there in T-minus two minutes." My dad announced. I impatiently waited for my dad to find our new house. We pulled down a couple different streets until my dad slowed up and read the address numbers on the mailbox.

"Hey dad, how close is our house from the ocean?" Logan's head popped up from his video game.

"Not even five minutes. How cool is that?" He laughed.

"That's so cool! My friends back home won't even believe this!" Logan was eager to explore this new place, I could tell. I couldn't wait to get out of the car; my body ached to stand and to breathe fresh air.

"Finally!" I moaned as the car came to a complete stop when my dad pulled into a driveway. I unbuckled my seat belt and jumped out of the car. My first thought? Land.

"Jeez Hayley." Logan mumbled while he hopped out the other side of the car. The seemingly endless flight and car ride from Spokane, Washington to Key West, Florida was over. Thank God. I looked at the house, and I had to admit it was cute. It was two stories and cream colored and the roof and shutters were white wood. This was my new home whether I liked it or not. I leaned against the hot car and looked up and down the neighborhood. Besides a few kids playing soccer a few houses down, the street was empty. I've actually never lived in a serious house; I had a big apartment back in Spokane. I've never had actual neighbors either. We had the whole floor to ourselves. I think I met the people above us once when we had a power outage and we were the one of the only people in the building that had electricity.

"Hayley, can you please help take Logan and your stuff into the house?" My mom hauled two of the bags out from the trunk.

"Yeah take my stuff into the house." Logan mocked and stuck his tongue out. I would tell him to shut up but I didn't even feel like getting in a fight now. My dad threw me the keys and they jingled when I caught them.

"Yeah, whatever." I dragged three big duffle bags and myself into the new home. I should feel special; I was one of the first people to see the house, besides my mom and dad of course. I unlocked the door and walked into my already furnished home. My mom and dad had flown out a week before and helped the movers put all the furniture in the correct places. That week I lived at my friend Kaitlin's house with Logan since at our house, we literally had nothing to sleep or sit on. I looked around the room. Boxes of all sizes were scattered everywhere and they were piled high. I left Logan's bag next to the door and instead I carried up my two bags. He could manage on getting his upstairs. Besides, it wasn't my problem. Hauling the bags up the stairs, the search for my room began. The first door I opened was a bathroom, then the guest room, and then the next was Logan's room. The last choice was finally my room, it had to be, it was the only room left. I opened the white wooden door to reveal light blue walls, white wood furniture, my bed, and a small fake diamond chandelier, which also had lights attached to it. This was my room all right. While walking in, I set my duffle bags next to my closet and began to explore the room. I had an all-new dresser, and thankfully it was bigger. On top of the dresser there was a vase of flowers, a few pictures in frames, and a couple of knick-knacks. The picture frames had a few photos of my friends and I back home. It made me ache inside to know that I wouldn't be seeing them for a long while. My window had a few of the front yard, it wasn't much of a view but it would have to do.

"Do you like it?" My parents yelled from outside. I sat on my window seat and opened my casement window and yelled down to my parents. My mother called while holding a box.

"I love it!" I smiled.

"Great, I thought you would!" My mom smiled. I left the windows open but I moved to my bed. I sat down on the comforter. I knew I needed to get unpacking, but I couldn't bear to even start. But I knew I had to, there was no choice. I threw my suitcase on the bed and began to throw all my clothes into different drawers. By the time I was done, the sun had already set and the half moon was high in the sky.


	2. Taylor Cavanaugh

_**Chapter Two:**_

_**Taylor Cavanaugh**_

_**Chapter Song: Whatever It Takes by Lifehouse**_

"We start school in two days right?" Logan asked, munching on a piece of garlic bread. I took a drink of water.

"No, you start tomorrow." My dad announced. I was so surprised, I did a spit take. I coughed out the water that had gone down the wrong way.

"Are you kidding me? You're joking right?" I looked at my dad in shock.

"No, why would I be joking?" My dad cut a piece of chicken and put it in his mouth.

"Because you told us it was two days. Ugh I'm nervous already!" I moaned and I couldn't even eat now. It was November, three months in from where the school year started. Everyone already knew each other and I was stuck being a nobody, and I didn't even know anyone here.

"Well you already have your back pack and books, why be so nervous?" My mother took a sip of her drink.

"Have you ever been in high school, mom?" I rudely remarked.

"Yeah she has." Logan innocently answered.

"Stay out of this Logan." I commented, but I regretted it once the words came out of my mouth. Logans smile turned into a frown and his whole demeanor turned. "No, no, oh god, I'm sorry Loge, I'm kind of on high nerves today." I bit my lip. "It's okay, I get it." He got over that fast. I took another few bites of my food but by then all I could think about was how scared and anxious I was for tomorrow. "You know what, I'm actually pretty full, and I probably should get to bed early since I _have_ to get up early tomorrow, goodnight everyone. Thanks for dinner." I brought my plates up and gave my parents a kiss. I walked up stairs and went into my new room.

Sleeping was inevitable last night. I had tried everything to make myself feel comfortable but nothing seemed to work. I had spent hours sitting on the widow seat starring up at the stars in the sky. The house had been silent; the whole street had been silent last night. I wasn't used to that. I was used to the nights where you would hear car horns honking and drunken people laughing so loud that they woke you up. I was used to the nights that when the city lights were so bright you couldn't tell that there was stars in the sky and the balcony I slept on if I didn't feel like sleeping in my room. Here it was to quiet. It was so silent last night you could probably hear a pin drop. Thankfully I had finally fallen asleep at two thirty in the morning, but still that was not enough sleep for me. "Hayley, Logan, wake up!" I heard my mom call from downstairs.

"I'm up, I'm up." I yelled back with the slightest bit of annoyance in my voice. I threw on a navy baby doll tank top, dark blue jean leggings, and a pair of silver sandals. I changed up my look a little bit. Back home, I would always wear long sleeves and a jacket since it was cold almost all year round. I threw on a cute necklace and I brushed my long and brown hair out. I ran my fingers through it a couple of times before I got it the way I liked it. Once that was finally done, I grabbed my white backpack and headed down the stairs. I could hear the voices of my dad and Logan talking once I hit the bottom of the stairs.

"Are you nervous, Loge?" My dad was cooking something at the stove. I could smell something delicious awaiting me.

"Not at all dad. I'm so excited! I'm going to miss everyone back home but I'll make new friends." Logan finished speaking once I walked in.

"Did you ever call your friends last night? I heard you talking to someone after dinner. Ah, hello baby." My dad kissed me on the cheek.

"Yeah! I told them how close we are to the beach. They were so happy for me! But they missed me so, so much." Logan took a sip of his orange juice.

"Bud, that's great!" My dad congratulated.

"How was your night?" My dad put a steaming waffle on my plate.

"Eh, so-so." I sugar coated it.

"Whipped cream?" My dad shook the bottle.

"Yes, please." I flashed a smile.

"Seriously? I slept like a baby! I couldn't believe how much I slept." Logan droned on and on.

"Thank you Logan." I muttered under my breath. I wolfed down my waffle and picked up my bag.

"Where are the keys?" I asked.

"Nope. I'm driving you and your brother today."

"What? No!" I protested. I couldn't have my dad driving me on my first day of junior year. I could guarantee that every junior there had a car and was driving. "Oh come on Hale, let me just do it today. And besides, Logan's school doesn't start for another half hour."

"Fine." I agreed.

"But just for today!" I smiled.

"Ok! Well then, if your ready get in the car!" My dad grabbed his keys and headed to the front door. I brought my plates up and walked to the front door too. "Wait dad, I have to go get my backpack!" Logan called.

"No prob bud, we'll be in the car." He walked out the door. Since when did my dad say 'no prob'? While checking myself in the mirror one last time, I heard the car turn on so I walked out the door and into the car.

"You're nervous aren't you?" My dad looked at me as I buckled my seat belt.

"Oh dad, you know me so well." I sighed. "You know I remember my first day of junior year." My dad announced. "But dad, this is my second first day of junior year." I complained. I had started school back in Washington but since we had to move I had to restart.

"You'll make friends fast, I promise you." He patted my knee.

"I don't know dad…" "No, your supposed to say 'yes, your always right dad'." He laughed and so did I.

My dad drove a few miles down until we saw a sign read 'Key West High School'. My heart began to pound vigorously. I could hear my heart beat in my ears. Every person I saw was with a friend. There were probably two people that walked by themselves, but that was about it. Being the new girl is never easy, and it's even worse if you come a few months into the school year.

"Oh great." My dad stopped the car in the front of the building. I could already see people starting to stare. Wonderful.

"Have a good day at school, Hayley!" Logan smiled.

"Thanks Logan, you too." I said with not as much enthusiasm, but I felt bad for the little guy.

"Love you sweetie, good luck." My dad kissed my cheek and I muttered a goodbye. I shut the car door and my dad drove away. This was it, no turning back. I walked inside the school and searched for the office. I needed a schedule.

"Hi, uh, excuse me." I caught the women's attention.

"Yes?" She repositioned her glasses to the bridge of her nose.

"I'm new here…and I need a schedule." I innocently asked. "Name?" She demanded.

"Hayley Thompson, I'm in eleventh grade." I informed.

"Ah, I see your from Washington. Far away now aren't we? Well then, welcome to Florida. I'm sure you'll love it here." Her attitude became nicer as she handed me the schedule.

"Yeah, I hope. And thanks." I walked away with the piece of paper. My first class was Chemistry. I found the class with ease, but the only complication was that I was a few seconds late and every student was already seated. The teacher was already writing on the white board when he turned to see me.

"May I help you?" He asked as he capped the marker.

"Yeah, is this Chemistry with Mr. Musso?" I meekly asked. Since when was I ever this timid? I don't think ever.

"Yes, and I'm Mr. Musso." He greeted.

"I'm Hayley, and I'm new here and you're my first period." I told him.

"Ah, where are you from Miss Thompson?" He asked.

"Washington." I simply said.

"Ok then, let me introduce you to the class and sit yourself in between Miss Cavanaugh and Miss Lance." He spoke softly.

"Class, attention, settle down and eyes up here!" He yelled to get the class' attention.

"We have a new student today! This is Hayley Thompson and she just moved here from Washington. Everyone say hello." Mr. Musso directed. Suddenly, the room was flooded with students saying hello and waving to me.

"Yeah hey." I greeted while pursing my lips and waving my hand. I quietly walked over to my assigned seat and I sat myself down, placing my backpack on the table. "Ok, everyone take out your notebooks and a pencil!" The teacher continued writing on the board while everyone ne in the room shuffled through their backpacks.

"Hey." A green eyed and dirty blonde haired looked at me.

"Hi, so are you Miss Cavanaugh or Miss Lance?" I asked.

"I'm Miss Cavanaugh, but call me Taylor." She smiled.

"Hayley, as you kind of just heard." She laughed.

"Yeah, so where in Washington did you move from?" Taylor asked while she quickly glanced at the board for the information we had to write down. "

Spokane, I don't know if you've heard of it before." I informed her.

"I actually haven't. But, oh wow, this must be a total culture shock for you!" "Yeah. It's its like a hundred degrees here and back home it was freezing for most of the year."

"Oh your going to miss that cold, it gets way to hot here." She sighed.

"Not to sure of that." I shrugged my shoulders. "So why did you move here anyways?" Taylor looked back up from her notes.

"My dad came here for business. He's a doctor."

"Oh, interesting. You'll like it here. It's a nice town." Taylor scribbled something down in her notebook. For the next fifteen minutes I listened to the teacher talk about things I already learned back home.

"Okay, finish writing this stuff down and then feel free to study the rest of the period!" The teacher sat back down at his desk. He readjusted his tie and put on his glasses.

"Is class usually like this?" I asked.

"Class isn't usually like this, we have a test tomorrow so he lets us study the whole period the day before. I doubt you'll have to take the test thought." Taylor capped her pen and closed her notebook.

"Thank god." I laughed.

"Hello girls." I heard a guy's voice purr. I looked up from my paper.

"What do you want, Stefan?" Taylor had an angry look on her face.

"Don't 'what do you want' me, Taylor." He rolled his eyes.

"I was just greeting our new student." I could sense the boy's arrogant attitude hidden behind his fake smile.

"Hayley, and you are?" I tried to be as polite as I could to the attractive boy. I put out my hand across the desk and he took it. Maybe I was wrong about him being a jerk, even though he looked like one.

"Stefan. Stefan Montgomery. Why don't you move up here instead of sitting with this freak?" All my respect for him was lost. Nope, never was I wrong about cliques and jerks. They're all the same.

"Excuse me? No thank you." I coughed up a laugh.

"You had your chance at not being a freak, suite yourself." He winked and turned around, high fiving a less attractive guy next to him.

"Don't mind Stefan, he's a jerk. I've known him since we were four, and he still hasn't changed." Taylor whispered to me. I chuckled. "Uh yeah, I would say. And don't worry about what he said, he seems like a high strung freak." That's when I noticed that Taylor Cavanaugh had become my first friend here.


	3. Good & Bad Day

_**Chapter Three**_

_**Good & Bad Days**_

_**Chapter Song: Bad Day by Daniel Powter**_

"Hayley! Over here!" I heard Taylor calling.

"Oh hey." I looked up from staring down at my schedule.

"What do you have now?" She asked.

"Uh, lunch." I scrolled my finger down to fifth period.

"Awesome! I do too. Come sit with us!" She didn't ask, she said.

"Who would this us be?" I wondered.

"It's just me and Kendall." She shrugged.

"Of course I'll sit with you." I smiled and we headed to the cafeteria. We walked to the back where a boy was sitting drinking a water bottle.

"Hey Tay, and…whose this?" he pointed to me.

"This is Hayley, she just started here today." We sat down.

"Oh, well welcome! And I'm Kendall." He introduced himself and reached his hand out to meet mine.

"Hey." I waved as I shook the light blonde haired boys hand.

"So, why did you start so late?" he asked.

"I just moved here yesterday from Washington." I told him.

"Whoa, you traveled a long way." His eyebrows rose.

"Sucks, I know." I pulled out my lunch, which was in a paper bag.

"So how do you like it here so far?" Kendall asked me when he finished chewing his large bite of an apple.

"I actually haven't had a chance to see the town yet. I just got in yesterday afternoon and I spent the whole day unpacking."

"You didn't even get to see the ocean yet?" Taylor sounded surprised.

"Is it such a big deal? I guess I'll see it today." I shrugged.

"You should come with me. I'll go show you, its not a big deal but its like gorgeous." Taylor offered.

"That sounds good. Yeah, back home the ocean was eight hours away so I didn't really go. In fact, I've probably been to it a hand full of times."

"No way, that's crazy."

"Told you, it's a total change, but I'm beginning to like it I guess." I began to eat. For the rest of the lunch period, Taylor and Kendall had asked me all about my life back home.

I was sipping on a smoothie that Taylor just bought for me from one of the local cafes.

"So this was the Coral Island Café. They have the best smoothies and milkshakes there. We go there pretty often." Kendall raved. He threw his empty smoothie into the garbage.

"Now over there, if you walk down a little ways, is the marina. A lot of people keep their boats there. And three blocks down is a shopping plaza. It's just your normal touristy area. Down on Whitehead Street, there's an aquarium. That's where Kendall works." Taylor mentioned.

"What do you do there?" I asked.

"I help with the dolphins. Nothing big."

"Oh yeah, working with dolphins, not big at all." I joked.

"Want to go see it?" he asked Taylor and I. I looked at the time on my phone and I groaned since it was almost five.

"I would but my parents wanted me home early today, the whole first day of school talk. Kill me now. I'll see you guys tomorrow." I waved and walked in the direction of my house. I could smell the ocean when a light breeze picked up. I closed my eyes and smiled. The smell was delightful. It was different, and it smelled good, but by the time I was home I could smell nothing. The second I closed the door I heard my name being called.

"Hayley? Is that you?" My mom was worried, I could tell.

"Yeah it's me mom, sorry I'm late I was out with some friends!" I apologized when I walked into the kitchen.

"You made some friends? That's great baby! Who are they?" Curiously about my day, my mom stopped what she was doing. She sounded extremely surprised that I had made some friends. I sat down at the table and swung my bag on the ground.

"Glad to know that your surprised I made friends. A girl named Taylor and a guy named Kendall. They were showing me the town so I could get used to it." I crossed my legs.

"That's wonderful! Oh, I'm so happy for you." My mom congratulated me. I was starting to like this town a lot more than I thought I was going to.

"Have a lot of homework?" She stirred something in a boiling pot.

"Not that much, I probably should get started in a few minutes." I sighed.

"Don't worry, it's just the downer of being in high school." I laughed at my mom and how she thought it was the only bad thing about high school.

"Yup the _only_ one." I sarcastically commented. What did you do today?" I asked. "I actually unpacked the whole entire day. You should be proud that I have gotten the whole kitchen, dining room, and your brothers room done!" She proudly stated. She began cutting an onion and piece of garlic.

"That's great mom." I tried to make her feel accomplished.

"I'll leave you to go do homework, have fun." She put the knife down.

"Just what I wanted. By the way, is Logan home? I wanted to ask him how his first day went." I picked up my bag.

"He's up in his room, but be easy on him he didn't have a great day." My mom's smile disappeared.

"Oh boy, let me go talk to him." As sympathetic as I felt, I knew my brother needed to stand up for himself more. I walked up the stairs to Logan's room. I knocked on the closed door,

"Logan, can I come in?" "Yeah." His voice sounded upset. I opened the door to find him at his desk doing a math worksheet. All the lights were on and the window was open.

"So, I heard you didn't have such a good day." I started.

"Yeah." He barley spoke.

"Why?" I felt like I was pulling the answers out of him.

"Some of the kids were mean to me because I didn't know anyone." Logan sniffled.

"Did you make any friends?" I sat myself on the end of Logan's bed.

"Only one." He looked down at the floor.

"Logan, are you joking? Here, come on look up. That's great, it's your first day, not your whole year. I can guarantee you everyone is going to want to be your friend by the end of the week." I held his hands. I could see him chuckling a little bit.

"But Hayley, you probably made a ton of friends already!" He complained.

"I made two, and you don't see me complaining. Now do you feel a little bit better?" I question him. He nodded.

"Can I have a hug?" I asked.

"Aw Hale, do I have too?" he complained.

"Yes, you do." I pulled him in and he hugged me.

"Don't worry about anything." My assuring voice comforted him.

"Hale?" I pulled away and looked at him.

"Yeah?" I curiously wondered what he would say next.

"Since when are you this caring?" Though a smile was now on his face, the question was completely serious. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that so it wont ruin this beautiful moment we just had." I joked and rubbed my hand on his hair to purposely mess it up.

**(A/N: Disclaimer- I don't own the H2o plotline, etc, but I do own my own characters. Review please! And check out my other stories on my page! Love you all :D ) **


	4. Unexpected Bonding Part 1

_**Chapter Four**_

_**Unexpected Bonding Part 1**_

_**Chapter Song: Good Life by OneRepublic**_

It's been a week since I started school. My group of friends was still centered on Taylor and Kendall. I had met other people but I didn't grow as close to them. I was okay with having two good friends, I couldn't ask for any one better in this new place. At least everyone wasn't a jerk to me. "Mom? Dad?" I called once I reached the bottom of the stairs. It was a Friday afternoon and I had decided not to stay home all night. There were way better things to do with my life. "There not here." Logan walked in from the kitchen with a chocolate chip cookie in his hands.

"Where are they?"

"I don't know, I think dad had an emergency call from the hospital and mom said something about going out with some new people she met." He took a big bite of his cookie.

"Well, I'm going out and my phones dead but I'll be back soon. I'm just going around town but if mom comes home before me, just tell her I went out, okay?" I knew if my mom didn't know where I was and she couldn't get a hold of me, I would be grounded for the rest of my life. On the other hand my dad was the laid back type, I could tell him I was leaving and he would be cool with it.

"Sounds good." He agreed.

"You'll be okay alone for an hour or two?"

"Obviously." My trustworthy brother smiled. Thank god I didn't have to worry about him trashing the place or breaking into my room or something, overall he was a pretty good kid.

"Awesome. Bye." I walked out the door and headed towards an unknown destination.

By the time I reached the marina, it was still bright outside. There was a good hour and a half left of sunlight, so I was perfect time wise. It was hot outside, but I was enjoying every moment of it. Walking in shorts and a t-shirt was a big change for me; I didn't have to wear a jacket, long sleeves or pants, and boots. Deciding to waste my time even more, I stepped onto the dock and I decided to walk to the end and back. The salty air of the ocean blew my way, forcing me to take a deep breath and enjoy the smell. The water was a beautiful shade of blue and the sun rippled off the surface. I was starting to get lost in its beauty and how different it was living here.

"Hayley!" I head a deep voice calling my name. It broke me out of my daydream. A waving hand caught my attention.

"Hey Hayley, over here!" The voice called. The voice belonged to Stefan Montgomery. What did that jerk want from me now? I hadn't even noticed him when I was walking onto the dock. He had a smile plastered along his face while he was standing in his small zodiac boat. In his hands was a pair of pliers and an oily towel.

"What?" I placed my hands on my hips once I reached him.

"Mind helping me with my boat? It's not working." He complained.

"I don't do boats." I scoffed.

"Oh please! I need to find out if it's seriously broken!" He whined.

"I told you I don't do boats. Besides, I don't know what to do."

"Oh come on its easy, I just need help holding some wires and stuff." He smirked.

I groaned. "Fine, but if it gets you to stop whining. But if you ever tell anyone I helped you, I'll kill you." I reluctantly stepped onto the boat and headed straight for the toolbox.

"Very funny." He pretended to laugh.

"So what actually happened? To your boat that is." I didn't actually care but I tried to make conversation with him so this wasn't as awkward as it really was.

"I don't have a clue, but whatever it was it caused it to stop working." He explained while I rummaged through the toolbox.

"Well that sucks, does it even turn on?" I asked feeling unsteady for a moment. But a second later, I realized why I had that feeling—the boat was moving. I jolted around and saw Stefan laughing and walking away. Unfortunately, the boat was drifting away from the dock.

"Nope, doesn't even turn on. Whatever, I never even liked that boat anyways. Just let it float out to sea." He continued to laugh.

"Stefan! This isn't funny!" I yelled. The water current was taking the boat out farther.

"Are you joking? This is hilarious! Go, swim for it." Swim back? I had no clue what was in these waters! I have heard of shark attacks on the news before, and many of them were in Florida, and many of the outcomes were fatal. The problem was, the farther the boat was getting out to sea, the more dangerous this was getting.

"You're an idiot, did you know that?" I yelled at him.

"Heard it a couple of times, don't believe everything you hear though!" He followed the boat down the dock.

"Oh believe it!" I shouted back. Stefan got his kick of the day by attempting to torment me, unfortunately that would have to end. Before I was about to jump into the water, suddenly I watched a girl run up behind Stefan, snatch the pliers he was holding, ran down the dock, and jumped far enough so that she landed on the zodiac with me. The boat rocked so much I was sure it would flip over.

"Way to go, now were both going out to sea." I crossed my arms. The girl blinked her crystal blue eyes.

"I know how to fix it, I'm the one who did it in the first place." She smiled. "Ah, I like you already." I smiled and she walked to the motor and began playing with the wires.

"Yeah, I'm getting back at him for the last thing he did."

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"By 'accidentally' spilling coke on me during lunch." The girl put the cap back on the motor and sat down in the drivers seat.

"I'm Kylie by the way." She introduced herself before I could reply to her last sentence.

"Hayley. I'm new in town." She turned the key into the ignition and the motor roared to life. She groaned.

"Stefan and the new girls, he always likes to annoy them. Oh, and you might want to sit down." She informed and when I did the boat began to slice through the ocean waves. Stefan looked at us and he was speechless. He stood there in shock while we drove off into the intercostals. Kylie's light blonde hair blew behind her shoulders as she drove in and out of different intercostals and waterways. We passed huge mansions, tiny houses, a few hotels, and a couple of restaurants. Passing boaters waved to us and we wove back.

"Wow Washington? Far move." Kylie kept her eyes on the water.

"I know." I sighed. A familiar person walking along the sidewalk appeared infront of us.

"Hey, Taylor! Do you want to come?" I called. Taylor turned around and looked at Kylie then the boat. "Hey, and I guess." She hesitated. Kylie pulled in further to land.

"Throw me your shoes, then get into the water up and get in. It's not to deep." I directed. Kylie caught Taylor's sandals and she did what I told her. Once the water was up to her ankles, Taylor hopped into the boat one foot at a time. She sat herself behind Kylie.

"Welcome aboard." I greeted with a chuckle. "Whose boat is this?" Taylor looked at us.

"Stefan Montgomery's." I smirked.

"No way, how did you manage to pull this one off on him?" She asked. Kylie began driving again.

"Me, being the idiot that I am, was actually sympathetic and helping him out. But, he tricked me and pushed the boat out. Then out of like nowhere, Kylie ran up, grabbed his plies, and jumped onto the boat. And well, we just went sight seeing and then here we are."

"Kylie? I'm guessing—"

"That's me! Kylie Henderson at your service." She quickly turned her head and smiled to Taylor.

"Taylor Cavanaugh. So, how did you manage to get it to work?"

"I was the one who made it break in the first place. Hey, do you guys want to go out to sea? It's either that or turn back to the marina now." Kylie asked.

"Sure." I shrugged.

"Eh, what the heck." Taylor also shrugged. Kylie floored the boat and we headed out onto the open sea. After fifteen minutes or so, we came across an island two miles away.

"What's that?" I pointed to the mysterious looking island.

"Bristol Island." Kylie informed.

"Is that a mountain? I never knew there were mountains in Florida." I exclaimed.

"I guess it is. No one really knows what it is since no one goes there, there's some rumor that it's an island that broke off from Hawaii millions of years ago, but those are just rumors. But, it's filled with mangroves and weird animals and it's surround by sharks and coral reefs. How creepy is that?" Taylor explained while we were staring at the shore of the island. "We probably should take a break there." Kylie shyly insisted.

"A break? Of all places, why would we take a break there?" I asked.

"Well, the motor kind of over heated and if we keep going, it might blow out." Kylie pulled closer to the island.

"No way, we're probably going to get eaten by an animal." Taylor shook her head.

"I rather not be stranded out here for days, so were going with Kylie's idea." I agreed.

I've never seen so many rocks in my life. They were all piled high in front of the island and then they stopped once the trees were visible. Then from there the trees turned into a rain forest. We all pulled the boat onto the sandy shore of Bristol Island.

"How long do we have to wait until it's back to normal?" I asked.

Kylie hesitated before she spoke. "A couple hours…"

"Are you kidding me? We're stuck on this uninhabited island for a couple of more hours? Were totally dead." Taylor fretted.

"We're totally dead? It's not like some monster's going to come out of the woods and eat us." I laughed.

"This isn't funny! At all!" Taylor huffed.

"It's not that bad, Taylor. Here's an idea, lets go exploring the place." Kylie smiled.

"I like Kylie's idea." I added.

"Oh yeah that's perfect" Taylor sarcastically said.

"Wait! I have my cell phone! I can call Kendall to pick us up in his boat!" Relief washed over Taylors face and she began calling Kendall. Her huge smile turned into a frown.

"No service?" I put my hands on my hips.

"Fine were going with your plan. Maybe at higher ground I'll get some." She mumbled.

"That's more like it!" I joked and we headed into the dark forest on our adventure. Once we walked through a stream to get to another side, my converses were soaked.

"I can hear a waterfall! Let's go this way, I want to see it." Taylor directed us.

"Oh look whose miss adventure now." I said. All I could hear from Taylor was about all the bugs and huge spiders that were crawling in the trees. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely hated it, but I didn't say a word. We moved our way through branches and palm fronds until we found ourselves out in the open staring at a small waterfall. Sunset had just begun and it was obvious that we all were beginning to get nervous at the fact that we were in the middle of nowhere and having no one to contact. We climbed the rocks of the waterfall until we got to the top.

"Nothing." Taylor pouted and she closed her phone.

"Unless you want to climb that mountain, I doubt were going to get any higher than this." I pointed out.

"The rocks are higher over there, it might help." Kylie said. Kylie and I jumped across the small area of water and we landed on the other side.

"Come on Tay, you'll do fine!" I encouraged her. But when Taylor was about to jump, she slipped on something, screamed, and disappeared.

**(A/N: Wow! Three Reviews in like a day, you guys are awesome! Spread the word about the story and get others to review, remember, I'll always review your stories if you review mine! I know a lot of people usually don't read these, but whatevs :P Part 2 comes up either today or tomorrow, depends on the amount of reviews!) **


	5. Unexpected Bonding Part 2

_**Chapter Five**_

_**Unexpected Bonding Part 2**_

_**Chapter Song: Into the Ocean by Blue October**_

I ran over to where she had fallen, into some dark hole, which lead into a cave. Taylor slid down the sandy floor and then she stopped.

"Taylor! Are you okay?" Kylie's voice echoed while she called into the cave. She was lying on the ground and it was dark so I couldn't tell if she was moving or not.

"Yeah, I'm ok!" She called back and my frustration level went down. Kylie was now next to me looking into the cave.

"Ok, climb back up!" I called in.

"Uh, problem. It's steep." I could hear the frustration in her voice.

"Well at least try!" I demanded. I could see Taylors shadow moving and then I heard a groan.

"To steep." She snorted.

"Here, Kylie hold my feet and I'll reach down for her." I directed.

"Okay." She agreed. I laid down and felt Kylie's hands hold my ankles tight. Like a snake, I slithered myself down trying not to loose any balance.

"Here, grab my hands." I directed Taylor in the dark. There was no sun left in the sky.I stretched my arms but then I felt uneasy. I screamed as Kylie's hands let go of my ankles. I felt her grab my right leg with one hand.

"Whoa!" She yelled as we both tumbled down the sandy floor. I landed on my stomach while she landed on her butt.

"So much for that." I muttered.

"Oh great! Were stuck in a cave on an island where no one can find us!" Taylor yelled. Even Kylie didn't have anything to say to that. We all knew we were in big trouble, and now it was officially dark out so everything got at least ten times harder. I crawled over to a spot where I could stand without slouching over. I brushed the sand off my knees and off my shirt.

"Wait a minute, the cave goes all the way back." I looked out into the darkness. The other two girls did the same as me and stood up. I began walking down the cave and I bit my lip from the nervousness.

"Were never getting out of here!" Kylie growled.

"Not helping, Kylie!" Taylor barked.

"Wait, I hear something." I stopped. I could hear a dripping of water. My foot felt something that felt like stone steps.

"There's a step up?" My statement came out as a question. "What? That's weird." Taylor said. I walked up the two steps and stepped through an arch. My eyes directed from the sand, and then to the water where the dripping sound was coming from. A natural pool of water took up more than half of the room. There was a break in the rock wall about the water. It was big enough that you could swim under it though.

"Wow. This is almost, creepy." I was the first one to break the silence. The room had an eerie feeling to it. Taylor looked up, and then I did too.

"Were inside the mountain thing." She awed. I looked up to the whole at the top. You could see the stars shining brightly, we were sitting in the cave longer than I expected.

"There are tidal rings!" Taylor yelled with joy.

"That matters why?" I questioned.

"That means that this pool is connected to the ocean!" Taylor kneeled down on one knee and felt the water. She cupped her hand and took a sip of the water from her hand. Taylor's face cringed.

"Yeah, defiantly connected to the ocean." She gulped.

"Was it salty or something?" Kylie put her hands on her hips.

"I would say." She gave a laugh.

"Awesome! So there's a way out of here." Kylie smiled.

"Come on, let's get out then!" Taylor placed herself in the pool of water. Without warning, Kylie jumped in to the pool. A splash bounced from the water and splattered my clothing. I sat down on the sand and then slowly slid my body into the warm water. I flinched when the water flooded inside my canvas sneakers. The pool was deeper than I thought it would be, I fell under the water. When my face popped up above the water I gasped for air.

"Are you okay?" Taylor asked. I ran my fingers through my hair and moved the loose strands that stuck to my face.

"Perfectly fine." I mumbled and lied.

"Ok, we all have to stick together while we're under." Taylor directed us.

"Wait, wait, wait. There are sharks in the water, I heard there are a ton of them here too, and sharks feed at night. I can't do this, I rather not be a sharks dinner," I fretted.

"I can assure you Hayley that you wont be a shark snack." Taylor placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't know, I don't feel good about this either." Kylie admitted.

"We don't know how long the swim is or even if there's sharks near by." I announced.

"New girls got a point." Kylie shrugged.

"Do you want to get out of here or not?" Taylor asked in an annoyed tone. All of us looked at each other.

We just sat there what could have been minutes to hours, just deciding what to do. Taylor had realized that we should be more sensible about this since she has seen sharks in waters around here while boating with Kendall.

"I think we should do it." I spoke up, making both girls look at one another.

"It'll be a quick swim hopefully, and we'll swim straight to shore without stopping. And if we see a shark, we swim right back into here."

"So we—" All of the sudden the room had become brighter. My eyebrows arched in confusion and we all looked up to the open top of the mountain. A full moon filled most of the hole and lit up the cave we were in. The pool water began to bubble like a Jacuzzi

"What's going on?" Taylors eyes were now filled with worry and concern.

"I don't know, but I'm freaked out. I think this should be our exit." I announced. All three of us looked at each other, nodded, and ducked under the water at the same time. The salty water irritated my eyes but I delt with it, I needed to get off this creepy island. We all swam side by side. With my blurred vision, I could see us pass a rocky wall and coral reefs. Like a frong, I kicked my legs out and swam up to the surface right before I ran out of air. Once I hit surface, I gasped for air as my head bobbed up and down in the continuous waves.

"Is everyone okay?" Taylor asked. She got a yes from Kylie and me. The wave currents were strong but we tried to avoid getting near any rocks. The distance to shore was shorter than I though. We crawled onto the cold sand and lied down on our backs.

"I'm freezing." My entire body shook from the cold. The fall air was warm, but not warm enough to make me stand outside in soaking clothes.

"Let's go home." Taylor said. I began pushing the boat back into the water with the other girls, and once it was in, we all climbed in and Kylie took the wheel and headed back to the dock. I looked back to the mountain at Bristol for one last time before it disappeared.

"Hayley Nicolette Baker get your butt in the kitchen right now!" My mother yelled the second the front door was cracked open. "Okay, mom." I sighed. I knew I was in big trouble, and truthfully I was scared to see what my punishment was. I had left Logan with a 'be back in an hour' six and a half hours ago. Six and a half hours ago, of course my parents would be furious with me! Besides the fact that I was shaking from the nervousness, I was shivering mostly from how cold I was. On the boat ride back I didn't dry off one bit. If anything, the ride back made me freeze even more. _Plop. Drip Drop_. Water was dripping off from my hair and shirt. I held my soaked shoes in my hands, water filled the insides of them. I watched as a bead of water rolled off the shoelaces and onto the floor.

"Yes?" I reluctantly walked in. My parents were sitting at the table with their hands folded and Logan was sitting on the couch in the other room watching cartoons.

"Where the hell have you been? Logan said you told him you would be back in an hour six hours ago! I hope you know I was about to call the police. You wouldn't answer your phone and we had no clue where you were? What's wrong with you? Oh Hayley, you are so grounded!" My mom exclaimed while waving her hands up in the air. I heard the television turn off and I glanced in and saw Logan's head leaning over the top of the couch. He was watching the whole fight unravel.

"Wait hold on a minute, what happened to you? Why are you soaking wet?" My dad asked. That was dad for you, he never freaked out about anything.

"First of all, I told Logan to tell you my phone was dead and I was going out for an hour, like I planned in the beginning. Well, I went exploring the town, but this irritating and jerky guy at my school tricked me onto helping him with his boat, but he just untied it and let it sail out to sea. The engine wouldn't work because it was broken and then this girl at my school, Kylie, she grabbed his screw driver and jumped off the dock and onto the boat! The jump had to be at least eight or ten feet. She was the one who made the engine brake in the first place and then she took me on the boat around town. Then we saw my friend, the one I told you about, Taylor Cavanaugh, and she got on board with us. So this is where it began. Then, Kylie and I insisted we should go out to sea and after a while the boat motor got over heated so we had to go to this really creepy place called Bristol Island and we were stuck there until the motor calmed down. No one lives there so we were pretty much abandoned. So then all three of us went exploring the jungle rainforest whatever you want to call it and then Taylor fell down a hole. We had this huge debate thing that lasted way longer than it should have, we didn't know whether to swim out through the only outlet we had because there was the possibility of sharks. But we ended up doing it getting back in one piece. And that is why I am soaked and back six hours later." I explained but I left out the magic parts about the pool and the moon, and what happened with the bubbling. I was almost out of breath from talking so fast.

"Oh my god honey are you okay? Ignore everything I said, you're not grounded." "Thanks, and yeah I'm fine. It was actually kind of fun. But I promise you I didn't intend to leave Logan for that long." I swore.

"I was fine by myself! Hayley only left an hour before you guys came back. I'm not a baby you know." Logan walked in wearing Sponge Bob Square Pants pajamas.

"Thanks, Loge. But if you guys don't mind, I'm going to go take a shower and go to bed. I'm pretty exhausted, and cold." I said my goodnights.

"Oh wait Hale, leave your shoes in here. I'll put them outside so they'll dry over night." My mom instructed. I did as she said and left my shoes on the titled floor. I headed up the stairs to take a hot shower and get into my warm bed. That was all I needed right now.

**(A/N: Thank you for the reviews guys! Really appreciated! I'm not getting as many views and reviews as I hoped to but hey, I'll just have to deal. But anyways, did anyone see the Born This Way video that premiered today? I thought it was fantastic! Another well done job for Miss Gaga!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the h2o plotline, etc, only my charcters, blah blah blah blah blah.)**

**Lets get some more reviews here guys! **

**Till next time. **

**Xxx,  
Elena**


	6. Discovery

**A/N: Wow, thanks for all the reviews guys! It makes me smile every time I do get one, remember I do take anon reviews too, so don't worry if you don't have an account! Also, feel free to request chapter songs. I need a few more! Well, here's chapter six! I made it kinda long, so read it all! Enjoy and Review!) **

_**Chapter Six**_

_**Discovery**_

_**Chapter Song: Comes And Goes (In Waves) by Greg Laswell**_

I squinted my eyes as the rising sun was shining through my window. I groaned, I had forgotten to close my curtains last night. I looked at the clock; it was almost seven thirty in the morning. I groaned once more, it was too early to be up. Birds were chirping outside my window. They greeted the new day. How could something or someone be up this early? It was impossible; I was definitely not a morning person. It was useless trying to fall back to sleep, with all the noise of the happy birds and the light, sleeping wouldn't be happening for me. The light in the room got stronger as the sun peaked out behind wisps of clouds. Of course it did, it was a sign to get up. I tossed the covers off of me and I got up to face the new day. I threw on some shorts and a t-shirt before I headed off to the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair. Once I untangled all the knots in my long, dark brown, hair, I slipped on a pair of blue flip-flops. Slowly opening my bedroom door, I listened to see if my parents or my brother were up yet. The house was silent. Quietly, I peaked in my brothers room. He was fast asleep snuggling with his blanket and a teddy bear. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. I tiptoed down stairs not wanting to disturb anyone and I put my ear to the shut wood door of my parent's room. My dads' snoring was easy to hear through the door, and I couldn't hear anything else but that. Knowing my mom she would be asleep too. Quietly, I opened the front door, and snuck myself out. Not knowing where I was going, I walked along the sidewalks aimlessly. I didn't have anywhere to go and I was in no rush, besides I still didn't know the town well enough to know where exactly I was going. The town was silent. Residents, tourists, and even the storekeepers, they were all asleep on this lovely Saturday morning. Stores were locked up and lights were off, everything was still. The Coral Island Café was possibly the only place open right now, but only a hand full of customer were in there. Most of the people in there wore blue and yellow uniforms with 'The Coral Island Café' printed in big black letters across the front and back of the shirts.

"One Iced Latte." I told the cashier. He put the order in and I handed him the last of the cash that was in my pocket.

"Thank you and have a nice day. Your drink will be waiting for you at the counter." He said. I waited at the counter for my drink and once it was in my hands, I walked and sat outside in one of the chairs.

People watching. That's what I was doing on my Saturday morning. That, and drinking my Iced Latte. Watching people walk in and out of the café was how I spent the past half hour. I sipped the last bit of it up through the straw and then got up to throw the plastic cup away. After that, I walked down a ways to the point where I could see the golden sand and the aquamarine ocean. The beach was vacant, not a sole in sight. A light breeze was blowing in and the waves were lightly crashing against the shore. Stepping onto the wooden pathway, I sashayed my way down to the sand. The loud roars of the ocean were already noticeable. Grains of warm sand stuck in between my toes. The sand covered my sandals and my feet sunk into the ground. Seagulls squaked overhead. The infinite turquouse ocean stretched farther then I could ever see. The peaks of the water sparkled as the sunshine glittered down. I walked towards the sea and stopped at the shoreline. I squished my toes in the dry sand and looked out into the horizon. A wave crashed against the shore and flooded upwards. The cool water submerged my feet. Sand stuck to my feet as I once again buried them in the sand. All of the sudden, I got a strange sensation come over me in my legs. They tingled and began to feel heavy, before I knew it, I was falling over onto the sand. I landed with a thump, how in the world did I end up on the ground? In the corner of my eye, I couldn't see my black shirt anymore. On my shoulder, I could only see my skin. I looked down to see that my shirt had been replaced with a scaly, golden, bikini halter-top that covered my chest. But the strangest part was that I didn't have a swimsuit on when I came out here. I turned my head to look at my legs and my eyes flew open right away. My legs weren't there anymore! In their place was a big, golden, and scaly fish tail. I was absolutely speechless. This couldn't be happening! Was I dreaming? I couldn't be. I looked around my surroundings to make sure that no people were around me. No one would believe this. Not even a minute later, did I get the same strange and tingling feeling rush throughout my legs, and I changed back to my normal self. My legs were back. My heart was erratically beating and I was confused, my eyebrows furrowed. What had just happened and more importantly, why did I have a fish tail?

I knocked on the front door of the Cavanaugh home. I had run two miles from the beach all the way here and I was exhausted. It felt like an eternity until I could hear the locks of the door turn. Taylor opened the door and looked at me with a terrified expression.

"You too?" Her eyebrows rose. All I could do was nod my head.

"I couldn't get hold of Kylie. She wouldn't answer her phone." I stated out of breath.

"Why are you so out of breath?" She looked at me.

"I just ran all the way here! Two miles, without stopping." I began to re-catch my breath.

"Hey! Guys wait! You wouldn't believe what just happened!" We both turned around to hear Kylie yelling at us and running up the sidewalk.

"I don't get it! It was—wait, is anyone home?" My voice got lower.

"My mom just went food shopping, my sister slept over a friends house, and my dad went out with a friend for coffee. So yes, were alone." She shrugged.

"Okay." I nodded. "Once I touched water, I got this weird feeling in my legs and I popped a tail." Kylie exclaimed.

"I was water for a split second!" Taylor frowned.

"I was walking on the beach early this morning and a wave splashed me. Before I knew it, I fell on the sand and I looked back to see this big fish tail." I told my story.

"I stepped into the shower and then I was on the ground with the shower hose spraying me in the face!" Taylor cried.

"I went to go take a swim in my pool and then I looked down, and I was a fish." Kylie pouted. "This cant be happening." Taylor shook her head.

"These big, scaly, orange tails, they disappear when were dry." I looked at the other two girls. They nodded their heads in agreement.

"We're—" I started.

"Don't say it." Taylor demanded.

"Mermaids." I said in shock, a little laugh escaped my mouth.

"But that's not possible! Their not real." Taylor cried out.

"Well it obviously is possible. We all saw our tails." I put her hands on her hips. I plopped myself down on the couch and tried to organize my thoughts.

"When I was a kid all I ever wanted was to become a mermaid or even a princess. When I was little I must have watched The Little Mermaid over forty times, it never got old. And now my childhood dream has come true but it's ten years to late. I'm not seven anymore!" I sighed.

"I was never into the whole mermaid, fairy, princess, whatever." Kylie was in shock.

"What to we do? Who do we tell? What if this never—" Taylor stopped when the front door opened.

"Mom, Dad, Taylor? I'm home!" A little girl walked in the door with a small black duffle.

"Mom and dad are out." Taylor looked at the girl.

"Who are your friends?" She asked and dropped the bag on the ground.

"Hayley and Kylie. Guys, this is Jackie…my sister." Taylor spoke plainly. Jackie looked at us and then marched upstairs.

"Let's get out of here." I announced and all three of us got up and headed out the door.

"I'm not going." Taylor refused. She sat on the dry rocks with her feet tucked in with her chest. I could tell she was worried.

"Fine stay here and keep look out." I rolled my eyes. Taylor frowned and Kylie I had a sympathetic look on my face for her. She would come around.

"Let's see how long it takes us to transform!" Kylie had a big smile plastered across her face.

"Why not." I shrugged. We locked hands and stepped onto the dry sand when we saw a wave coming. The wave smashed against the shore and splashed our legs. We both started counting at the same time.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, t—whoa!" We screamed in unison and fell face first into the sand. We began laughing at the fact that this was incredible and unbelievable.

"Let's go for a swim!" I smiled at possibly the stupidest thing I could think of. Someone could see us! I pulled myself through the sand and into the ocean. Once I was off the sand and free floating in the water, I felt like I was in a dream. The water was clear and bright. I could slice through the water with my tail; it had to be at least one hundred times easier than swimming with human legs. The salty water burned my eyes at first but once I blinked them a few times the stinging went away and didn't return. The water got deep enough where my tail could move freely without hitting the rocky bottom. The ocean was clear and beautiful, who could ever imagine it being as incredible as this? It was a different world. Hundreds of different colored fish swam around in the reefs and a sea turtle slowly glided past Kylie and I. I watched as sea anemones danced with the ocean's current. While passing a thing of coral that was stark and bleak, two large crabs climbed them. Suddenly, I was almost face to face with two fish that swam in unison. Their fins were colorful shining, their gills fluttered. I was in a dream world, I had to be, and this didn't feel real. Both of us swam deeper into the water. We explored a huge coral reef and swam backwards. I couldn't help but smile at the incredible feeling. While I was on the other side of the coral reef, I waved to Kylie and she returned a wave. She then motioned with her finger pointing upwards. I nodded my head and we swam up a little to the surface. "That was amazing!" I breathed, the weird thing was I wasn't gasping for breath and we had been down there for a while.

"Maybe this whole mermaid trouble can be a good thing." Kylie laughed.

"Be careful! This is a public beach, you know." Taylor called.

"Well that's why your keeping look out. And besides, there is no one out here yet." I smiled.

"How long were we down there for?" Kylie called. Taylor pulled out her phone.

"I don't know, fifteen—twenty minutes?" She guessed.

"No way." Kylie muttered.

"Unbelievable." I whispered.

"Hey Taylor!" I heard a familiar voice call, but it wasn't Kylies. In the distance, we saw Kendall walking at a fast pace towards Taylor. Kylie and I looked at each other and then Taylor. We both took a deep breath and then forced ourselves under the water. I watched as Kendall walked up to Taylor with a fishing pole in his hand. His mouth was moving and Taylor's head was nodding and shaking. Kylie looked at me and tilted her head and mouthed a 'What?'. I shrugged my shoulders. A few minutes later we watched Kendall walk away and we cautiously raised our heads out of the ocean. We swam back to Taylor and I dragged myself onto shore."

"You have no idea what you just missed!: Kylie flaunted. Taylor looked at her. "What was that about?" I propped myself up on a rock.

"He wanted to know what I was doing out here and also if I wanted to come with him. He was going 'deep sea fishing or something." Taylor sighed.

"Do you think he saw us?" Kylie asked.

"No, he would have said something, I know him." She assured.

"We have to be more careful next time." I frowned, but I knew it was the truth.


	7. Can't You Take No For An Answer?

_**Chapter Seven**_

_**Can't You Take No For An Answer?**_

_**All We Are by OneRepublic**_

It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was lying on my bed with the girls. Kylie and Taylor were talking about the negative side of being a mermaid. I, on the other hand, was only thinking about the good sides of being part fish.

"We can swim anywhere we want." I was mesmerized at the thought.

"We can go to Fiji, or even Hawaii." I smiled at the thought.

"That's hundreds and thousands of miles from here." Kylie looked at me.

"If dolphins can swim that far, so can we. Were fish now." I flipped myself onto my stomach.

"Maybe we should tell someone, I mean we're fish. This isn't normal, we need our old self back." Kylie complained. Out of all of us, Kylie was complaining! She was the one who loved this the most well, besides me. So I thought. I think I'm the only one out of all three of us who is partially enjoying this tail 'problem'. Yes, it's a hassle, but this is an experience that won't happen to anyone else!

"Really? And what do you think they're going to do after we tell someone? You know what will happen? We will end up being tested in some little lab, probably for the rest of our lives." I became testy with her.

"Even though I'd hate to admit it, Hayley's got a point, Ky. I don't think we can tell anyone." Taylor sighed. Finally, someone agreed with me.

"What about our parents?" Kylie hoped.

"No." Taylor refused. She grimaced.

"I hate keeping secrets." I admitted. Then both of them began talking about how they hated their life, again. After five minutes of listening to their complaining about how they didn't understand why and what would happen, I got annoyed. Quickly, I sat up.

"You guy's are really curious about this whole mermaid thing right?" I went into my bathroom and began rummaging through the drawers.

"Almost everything has water in it! What if we touch something we didn't know would transform us and it did." I spoke fast. I came out of the bathroom with a bundle of items in my hand. I placed them all down on the bed: a bottle of rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, perfume, moisturizer, makeup, deodorant, and soap.

"What are all these for?" Taylor picked up the rubbing alcohol.

"You'll see." I snatched it back from her and poured some onto a cotton ball. I turned my wrist and began rubbing it on me and then I stopped and waited. Once again, I got that tingling feeling in my legs and I felt them disappear.

"Oh no!" And with that, I fell.

"What are you doing?" Kylie looked down to the floor where I was.

"Just hand me a towel". Kylie ran into the bathroom and threw me a forest green towel. I dried my wrist and then felt my legs come back.

"Now can you explain what your doing?" Taylor crossed her arms.

"I'm trying to see if all these things that we use daily would affect us! I used the soap and deodorant while I was still wet earlier so I don't know. I'm finally taking charge. Like, what if we can't wear makeup because it has water in it?" I questioned. I got a blank stare from both girls but Kylie was the first one to speak.

"Ah, good thinking." She smirked.

"Got it." Taylor nodded.

"I tried the first one, who wants to try the makeup?" I shook the concealer around. No girls spoke. I quickly opened the top spread some on my fingers, and in one action I spread it across Kylie's face. I quickly wiped if off my fingers

"No!" She yelled.

"Eight, nine, ten." Taylor looked at the wall clock and then to the normal legged Kylie.

"I don't get it, it was water in it." I shrugged. Taylor took the perfume and sprayed it on Kylie. Ten seconds later, Kylie muttered something under her breath and then a fish tail appeared. Reluctantly, Taylor picked up the moisturizer and rubbed a drop on the front of her hand. "Thank god." She smiled at the fact that she didn't turn. Then out of nowhere, her tail appeared.

"Counted wrong?" I smirked.

"Yeah." She frowned. She grabbed the towel from Kylie and took the cream off of her. After that we tried the deodorant, I rubbed some on the front of my hand but there was no change. Lastly, Taylor squeezed some soap into her hand but she transformed ten seconds later.

"At least were more informed." I shrugged trying to get everyone a little happier. They both pouted and turned to me. Kylie attacked me with sprays of perfume and I fell onto my stomach.

"I need to get some new friends." I muttered as I propped myself up with my elbows.

I sat in a booth alone at the Coral Island Café waiting for my lemonade to be served to me. What was taking the waitress so long? It was a glass of lemonade. It shouldn't take ten minutes.

"Hey Hayley." I turned to find Stefan sipping on a glass of Coca Cola and nonchalantly standing by my table.

"Hi?" The word came out as more of a question than a cold greeting.

"Can I sit with you?" He asked.

"Do you have too?" I groaned. He took a seat across from me.

"So…what's up?" Stefan awkwardly started the convorsation. He was being to friendly for his usual jerk personality.

"Cut to the chase Stefan, what do you want?" I looked at him.

"Now why would I want anything from you? I can't be a good friend and say hello?" He defended himself.

"First of all, we're not friends. Second of all, you hate me. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't just want to sit with me and catch up. So what do you _really_ want?" "Your still angry about the boat thing aren't you?" He laughed.

"I've gotten over that long ago, Stefan."

"Ah, well good then! By the way, I'm glad you returned it, and it was working too! Very nice job, Hayley." He took a sip of his drink.

"What do you want?" I repeated.

"Your help." His expression was serious but I couldn't help but almost burst out laughing.

"My help? Why on earth would _you_ need _my_ help?" I couldn't help but continue laughing.

"Well, I'm failing Chemistry and I need someone to tutor me." I could tell he was embarrassed. Good.

"You need me to tutor you? Why don't you ask one of your little friends in that class?" I questioned.

"Oh please, Cameron is an idiot." He huffed.

"Shocker." I sarcastically muttered.

"So will you help me? I know we hate each other, but come on maybe we can be—"

"Not happening." I interrupted him.

"Oh come on, help a guy out." He pleaded. I tapped my fingers anxiously against the table.

"Leave, Stefan." I ordered.

"I can use you and your smartness." He complimented.

"Not a way to get on my good side." I glared at him.

"Please?" He begged. As much as I loved seeing Stefan beg for my help, I was really irritated.

"Goodbye, Stefan." I tried to focus on anything but him. I clenched my hand that was on the table.

"Oh come on!" He cried. I evilly glared at him.

"Why? Give me one good reason." He whined.

"Maybe, I just don't want to. Just—" Suddenly there was a bubbling noise. I looked down to see Stefan's coke bubbling and steam coming off of it. He touched the glass and immediately pulled away.

"What the hell? It's hot!" He screeched and looked at me. I looked back at him, confusion filling my mind and face. I then proceeded to pull my hand back and then the bubbling decreased and the steam disappeared. I looked at my hand; I had just boiled his coke! My pulse sped up and my heart was beating faster than normal. This was unbelievable.

"I got to go." I grabbed my phone and stood up.

"So you'll help me?" He smirked.

"Do you understand the meaning of no?" I groaned and ran out of the building. I could feel Stefan's eyes glued to my back the whole time. I dialed Kylie's number, and then Taylor's. Kylie didn't answer but Taylor did. "Hello?" She answered.

"Taylor, where are you?" I asked.

"Home, why?" She questioned. "I'm coming over, whatever you do please talk to Kylie and get her over too." I begged.

"What? Right now? And Kylie's with me, were studying for Math." She sighed. "Yeah right now. You guys aren't going to believe what just happened…" There was a pause.

"Did someone find out?" I heard Kylie yell in the background.

"No, no. I'll be over in a few, you'll see." I hung up the phone and slid it in my pocket and ran.

I slowed down once I got onto Taylor's driveway. It wasn't a far run, it was probably a half a mile. Maybe even a little less. I knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Taylor, get the door!" I heard Jackie yell from inside. Two seconds later, the door opened.

"Now can you tell us what was so important?" She closed the door behind me. "Upstairs." I plainly said and I was the first one to walk up to her room.

"Hayley, this is weird, just tell us already." Kylie commented. I ignored her comment and searched for a glass. A glass filled with water sat on Taylor's desk. "There. Okay, so this is a normal glass of water right?"

"Yeah, I just filled it." Taylor shrugged. I reached my hand out in front of the glass and clenched my hand into a fist. The glass began to bubble and steam, just like Stefan's coke. I looked at the two girls before pulling my hand away, their mouths were agape and they looked confused.

"We have powers?" Kylie was confused.

"This is way too…" Taylor tried to find the correct words.

"Awesome? Amazing?" I helped her with a smile.

"No! It's beyond weird." She glared at the boiling glass.

"It's beyond awesome. One of you try it out." I demanded. Kylie put her hand out in front of the glass like me and clenched it into a fist. Nothing happened. We took a glance at each other. She then tried to turn her hand and something amazing happened, water rose out of the jar and was in mid air. "Cool." She laughed and she lead the water back into the glass.

"Taylor." I eyed her.

"Fine." She scowled and did the same action as Kylie and me. The water froze into ice. My eyes got large. Taylor picked up the glass and felt the ice.

"It's like it was just sitting in the freezer!" She exclaimed.

"Is it cool now?" I asked.

"Maybe a little." She didn't do a very good job of hiding her smile. "Wait, so how did you figure out that you—we had powers?" Kylie looked up from the frozen glass to me. I then told them the entire story about Stefan asking me for help and then his coke boiling.

"Stefan's face was pretty funny." I giggled.

"Did he suspect it was you?" Kylie wondered.

"Nope." I simply answered.

"Now can you unfreeze my water? I'm thirsty." Taylor laughed and I watched the ice melt into water in less than three seconds.

**(A/N: Review pleasee! Thanks for all of those who are commenting; it means the world to me. New Chapter tomorrow! Disclaimer: I don't own the h2o plot line.) **


	8. Telling Kendall

_**Chapter Eight**_

_**Telling Kendall**_

_**Chapter Song: What Are Words by Chris Medina**_

"Can anyone explain to me why Hamlet is similar to today's life style?" My teacher finally ended his forty five-minute lectures with a question. Dear god I hope it was over, I couldn't take much more of it. Every two minutes I kept glancing at the clock on the wall. Time was going by slowly, and it was aggravating me. It was like the clock was purposely going slow. Two minutes left until school ends. The whole class period I had daydreamed about the ocean and my tail. I couldn't understand why my friends were so troubled by our newfound change; maybe it was a good thing. Besides, this bonded us all together and it was an amazing experience. Suddenly, the rattle of the school bell echoed throughout the class and all the students shuffled quickly to get their backpacks. I threw my bag on my shoulder and walked over to Taylors seat.

"Well, that was boring. At least the day is over." She said. "

Eh, I stopped paying attention after the first five minutes." I laughed.

"I'll give you my notes later." She eyed with a half smile. Kylie met up with us once we were in the front of the school and we began walking back home.

"So, do you guys want to do something tonight?" I offered.

"Sure." Replied both girls.

"Well we do have a science test some time later in the week, do you guys want to study for it?" Kylie chimed in.

"Yeah, I really need to. Tay, can we do it at your place? Logan's having some friends over tonight and I'll probably kill myself before I would have to stay in the house with four ten year old boys." I silently groaned at the thought of it.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Come over around five?" She thought. We all agreed to meet at Taylor's house at five.

"Up for a swim afterwards?" I offered with hope.

"Maybe…" Kylie mumbled, the chances of her agreeing were slim.

"We'll see." Taylor didn't look at me. They weren't taking this gift for granted; I was the only one out of all three of us who did. I was embracing my gift, or whatever you want to call it.

"Taylor, Kylie, Hayley!" We turned around to see Kendall waving at us.

"Ladies." He nodded his head to us.

"Kendall." I replied.

"What's up guys?" He asked.

"Nothing." Taylor replied for all three of us.

"So, do one of you want to come help me with my boat later? It needs some work and I can't do it alone!" He wagged a finger from Taylor, then to me, and then finally to Kylie.

"What is with you guys and your boats?" I retorted. Helping him with his boat meant being in contact with water, there was no way any of us were going to help him any time soon.

"Sure." Taylor shrugged. "Taylor!" Kylie and I yelled her name at the same time. We looked at her like she was an idiot.

"We have to study, remember?" I gritted through my teeth and an eyebrow rose. In a second it finally sunk into her why she couldn't help her best guy friend.

"Oh right, sorry Kendall we have to um, study." She sighed.

"It doesn't even take an hour. Taylor, your always on my boat come help!" He begged.

"Kendall, she can't we have to study!" I jumped trying to protect our secret.

"Sorry Kendall." She looked down at her feet.

"No problem, next time okay?" He smiled.

"Yeah, next time." Her face was filled with sorrow.

"My house is on this street so, I'll see you all tomorrow!" He waved as he walked down a different path. I waited till he was out of hearing reach to speak.

"Could you make it believable?" I asked.

"Sorry Hayley!" Taylor growled and immediately I felt bad. It was obvious her and Kendall had a thing, and now whatever that thing was would be gone. This was all to keep our secret. Behind us, a car beeped.

"Oh whoa my dads here, I'll see you guys at five!" Kylie called and ran to the black Cadillac Escalade.

"Look Taylor, I'm sorry." It was hard for me to say.

"Your sorry? Why?" She looked up surprised.

"You like Kendall, right?" I knew the answer to this already.

"Well…" She began.

"Taylor, I know you do. I think everyone knows you do except for you and Kendall."

"I'm not saying I do and I'm not saying I don't, but what's exactly the point to this?" She asked.

"I'm sorry we have to hide this. I don't want us ending up in a fish tank being dissected."

"Not funny."

"Point is, we'll do whatever it takes to not let anyone find out."

"We can't tell Kendall?"

"We can't tell Kendall." I affirmed.

"Thanks for the apology, but it's not your fault." She shrugged.

"Your welcome." I smiled while trying to shrug off my usual feisty and quick attitude away to keep a real friend moment.

After taking a long and relaxing bath, I steam dried myself with my powers and changed into a pair of white shorts and a navy blue V-neck. By the time I was done, it was time to meet at Taylor house.

"Bye!" I shut the front door without waiting for a reply. The weather was perfect outside. There was a light breeze and the sun wasn't that high up in the sky so the temperature wasn't blazing hot. Halfway to Taylor's house, I met up with Kylie.

"Hey." She waved.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Fighting with my mom. Ugh, she's so annoying!" She groaned.

"I know what you mean." I laughed and we continued walking.

"So you know that guy in our math class? Don't you think he's kind of cute?" She bit her lip.

"Oh yeah that guy! The one with the hair? Seriously, which guy? There's like twenty of them."

"I think his names Mark? Or is Jason?" She questioned her own knowledge.

"It's Mason, and I don't know I guess he is."

"I thought. "I think he's pretty cute, and he's super smart." She smiled.

"Ah, Kylie's got a crush." I smirked.

"No…" She held in a smile.

"Oh just face it you do." We walked up the driveway to Taylor's house and knocked on the door.

"Oh hello girls! Come in, come in, Taylor's not back yet but she should be back any minute." Taylor's mom greeted us with a warm smile.

"Wait, where's Taylor?" I asked.

"She said something about meeting Kendall Benward. Do you two know him?" She asked. Kylie and I looked at each other in shock. Of course she would put our secret in danger.

"Oh yes, yes we do. But were so silly, we forgot we were supposed to meet her at Kendall's house, not here. Oh well, my mistake. We will see you later, Mrs. Cavanaugh." I lied and waited for a reaction.

"Don't worry about it girls, you all have fun now!" She said her goodbyes and closed the door.

"You know where she is right?" Kylie stupidly asked.

"Obviously!" And with that we both broke into a sprint to the dock. As we ran onto the wooden dock, my friends came into few. Taylor and Kendall were all the way at the end of the dock. Taylor was bent over getting multiple tools out of a box and handing them to Kendall.

"Taylor!" Kylie yelled. Kendall turned around and then knocked into Taylor, forcing her to fall off the dock and splashing into the water.

"No!" We both gasped at the same time. If we didn't yell her name Kendall wouldn't have been surprised and bumped into her.

"Kendall! Why did you knock into her!" I yelled at him when we reached where he was standing. "I didn't mean to!" He defended himself. Taylor's head popped up from the water and she was coughing and breathless.

"Oh god, Tay I'm so sorry!" He looked at her. The blue water started to bubble and her dark purple jacket transformed into an orange scaly bikini top.

"Uh, I think I'll be the one saying that. Kendall…"Taylor's voice was shaking. She looked at us, mouthing 'sorry'. Then Kendall saw her tail. His eyes widened and he looked at it. Kendall was speechless but he was backing up father away from Taylor.

"Kendall, you have to help me." She begged. Kendall backed up farther from Taylor.

"Please Kendall! It's me, Taylor, your best friend for eight years." She pleaded and tried to pull herself up onto the dock. It was useless. Kendall shook his head. "Please." Taylor whimpered. A few moments passed by until Kendall reached out his hand and touched Taylor's. All three of us let out a sigh of relief and Taylor grew a smile.

"God, she ways a ton, can you guys help me?" He looked at both of us and we hesitated.

"We cant." Kylie was the first one to break the silence. "

What? Why?" He asked with a frown.

"Unless you want us to grow tails too, we can't get wet." I pursed my lips.

"Both of you? All three of you? Are you serious? How?" He exclaimed.

"There's no time for exclamation just pull her out!" I demanded. With all his force, Kendall tried to pull Taylor out of the water.

"Wait stop! It's too risky, people might see her. Kendall meet us in the front of Bristol Island." Kylie looked at him. Kylie and I looked both ways to make sure no one was looking at us.

"Wait how are—" Kendall began until we both dove into the water. I waited ten seconds until I transformed and then I swam up to the surface to catch my last breath. "Kendall we'll be there in like two minutes, get on your boat." Taylor instructed. With that, Kendall hopped onto his boat and turned on the motor. Both girls and me flipped our bodies under the water and began swimming. Once we were in a deeper part, with a strong flick of our tails we jetted off.

We waited until Kendall pulled his boat up onto the sand to swim up to the banks of Bristol Island. A wave helped me push myself and the other girls onto the sandy shore.

"Kendall, help me?" Taylor flopped onto the sand. The teenaged boy turned to us with a shocked expression on his face.

"Oh wow this is something you don't see everyday. But oh, yes, yes of course!" He grabbed her hands and dragged her up to shore. Kylie and I pulled ourselves up to dry shore quicker. I balled my fist over my fish body and watched the steam start to fill the air around my body. In less than a minute, I was back to my human self.

"What? How?" He looked at my dry body. I didn't answer him; instead I dried the other girls off first. I turned to Kendall and placed my hands on my hips.

"I hope you know if you tell anyone, I will burn you to a crisp." I smirked.

"Of course I wouldn't! You guys could end up being dissected."

"Yeah, we know." Taylor nodded.

"Now can you explain why you all are part fish?" He asked curiously. All four of us formed a circle in the sand and began talking.

"I was taking a walk down the marina one day and Stefan called me over to help him with his boat. And me being the idiot that I am was being nice for once so I helped him and he tricked me and let the boat go. So—"

"Wait couldn't you have just pulled the boat in?" Kendall interrupted.

"Maybe if you let me finish you could let me explain. "As I was saying and forgot to add, that the boat motor was broken. But then Kylie jumped onto the boat and fixed it and then we started driving around town and then we picked up Taylor." "Then, we drove out into the ocean and the motor over heated so we pulled in to Bristol. We started to explore and I fell in a hole and when Hayley tried to get me, she fell in too and so did Kylie. Well the hole was more like a cave so we walked into it and then found this pool of water inside a volcano. So we jumped in and the moon centered over the hole of the volcano and the water started to bubble. Then the next day I went into the shower and then ten seconds later I fell." Taylor explained.

"What about you two? How did you both find out?" Kendall questioned.

"I went for a swim in my pool." Kylie said.

"I was walking on the beach." I said.

"Did anyone see you?" He exclaimed.

"No, it was early in the morning."

"So wait, how did you just dry yourself off? Is that some kind of magical ability you all have?" Kendall looked at all three of us.

"No, Hayley's the only one who can boil or heat stuff up. Kylie can control water and I can freeze it." Taylor half smiled.

"No way, that is insane." Kendall smiled. Kylie moved her hand over to the ocean and a ball of water popped out she maneuvered it over to where all four of us were sitting and then Taylor froze it. It dropped in the middle of the circle.

"That is awesome." He was speechless. I balled my hand over the frozen circle and it started to steam and finally disappeared.

"Sick." Was all he could say.

"Come on, let's go show him the cave." Kylie insisted.

"Do we have too?" I moaned.

"Yes, come on." Kylie stood up and dragged me with her.

I was the second to last one to slide down the hole leading to the pool. Granted, it would have been much easier to swim in but Kendall didn't want to get wet. Kendall slid in behind me and we both got up at the same time. Taylor led the way to where the pool was.

"Whoa, this is amazing!" Kendall said as we stepped into the cave.

"We know." Kylie smiled.

"This is where it all happened?" He asked.

"No Kendall, we just took you here for no reason." I said sarcastically.

"I'll take that as a yes." He shrugged. He bent down and put his hand into the water.

"It feels like normal water, I don't get why you guys change." He shook his head. "We don't either." Kylie sighed.

"This is fascinating. So one drop of water is all it takes?"

"Just one drop" I answered. Kendall dipped his hand in the water and splashed me.

"Kendall!" Taylor and Kylie yelled at him in sync.

"Seriously?" I angrily yelled and fell to the ground with a tail.

"Just a test!" He chuckled.

"Yeah, whatever. I don't think I've ever said this before, but can we go back and do science now?" I dragged myself to the water and eased myself in.

"In a second." Taylor said. "So what exactly is this place called?" Kendall asked. "I don't know. It's just a place on Bristol, it doesn't have a name." Taylor looked at me in the water.

"Why not call it the Moon Pool?" He suggested while looking around.

"Moon Pool? Why should we call it that?" I wondered.

"Because that's where the magic happened, when you guys were in the pool and the moon passed over. Hence, Moon Pool."

"I could get used to that, at least it has a name." Kylie said.

"Yeah same. Thanks Kendall." Taylor appreciated the new name. They all turned to me.

"Yeah, it's good." I laughed.

"Now, we can go do science." Taylor said.

"Ew." I whispered. "We have to get it done sooner or later!" She quickly replied and jumped in. Kylie jumped in after her. "Race you back to the beach?" I offered. "Sure." Both girls giggled. "We'll see you later Kendall."

"Wait! How do I get out of here?" He fretted.

"Either go the way were going or climb back up and walk back to the boat." Kylie said.

"Ok." He nodded.

"One, two, three go!" Taylor laughed and we ducked under water and began our race back to shore.

"H2o." Kylie read out of our big, heavy, and obnoxious textbook.

"Something that turns us into mermaids and its formula thing is hydrogen dioxide." I answered and threw my head back onto the pillow.

"Right. Now, ammonium?" Kylie asked us.

"That would be NH4 positive!" Taylor happily remembered.

"Way to go, Tay." Kylie chuckled.

"Totally gonna ace this test." Taylor took the book from Kylie.

"Well I'm not, this is impossible and stupid." I huffed.

"We all hate studying, your not alone Hayley." Kylie said.

"I know, I know. But I've always been terrible at science and what were learning is useless. I mean when in life are we going to need to know this? Exactly, we're not." I said.

"She's got a point." Kylie shrugged.

"Is everyone thinking what I'm thinking?" Taylor asked.

"If you're thinking to put it off and study tomorrow or the next day, then yes." I sat up.

"Good, so we're all on the same page." She laughed.

**(A/N: Extra long chapter because I got 3+ reviews! Thanks so much guys, so appreciated! I want more reviews though! But im appreciative of the ones I got, I love you guys! I'll update tomorrow if I get 3+ reviews!)**


	9. Testing

_**Chapter Nine**_

_**Testing**_

_**Chapter Song: Someday by Rob Thomas**_

"I don't get why Kylie couldn't come over." Taylor said while she was painting her nails a shade of light blue. Kendall was sitting on my bed with us setting up spray bottles filled with all different liquids. His trusty computer was set beside him with a pad and pen.

"Something about having to baby sit for her neighbors, I don't know."

"Do you understand how dangerous that is? Baby sitting little kids? They love spilling stuff and most of that stuff is water, I guarantee that by the end of the night someone's going to find out."

"And I guarantee that that's not our problem."

"Aren't you the slightest bit worried?"

"Maybe a little." I admitted.

"There we go."

"Kendall, what are you doing?" I changed the subject.

"Yeah, what's with all the bottles and computer and stuff?" Taylor watched Kendall pour another liquid into a bottle.

"I want to see what changes you guys and what doesn't. You know, run some tests." He seemed semi excited about it.

"What happened to 'oh, why don't we just hang out'?" I asked him since that was what he said verbatim on the phone today.

"Well we're hanging out, aren't we?" he laughed.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you Kendall, but we did this already. Courtesy of my idea." I smiled.

"Really? How so?" He asked.

"We tried all the lotions, soaps, and all that stuff." Taylor answered for me.

"This isn't lotions and soaps and all that."

"If one of the liquids in those bottles is perfume, don't bother, we already tried it. It turns us until it's dried off." I said. Kendall wrote a note down in his pad.

"Good, one less thing we need to do." He said and then sprayed Taylor with something.

"Gross!" She squealed.

"Ten….Nine…"

"Ew, Kendall what is this?" She felt the liquid he sprayed on her leg. I touched it and it was oily and slick.

"No change from three fourths vegetable oil 1 tenth water." He etched it in his pad.

"You're pathetic." I smiled.

"Don't you want to find out why you girls turned?"

"I guess…" Taylor's agreed.

"You have a point." I shrugged.

"But still, do we have to do this now?" Taylor asked.

"It's now or never!"

"I suggest never!" I commented.

"Ha-Ha very funny." He gave me a glare. He continued to do tests on Taylor since I threatened him if he dared to touch me with any of those mixtures, I would kill him.

"Why don't we have a sleepover tomorrow with Kylie?" Taylor looked up at me.

"That sounds fine. We can't at my house though, my brothers having his friends over and you don't want to be there, trust me."

"What do you girls do at these sleepovers anyways?" Kendall spoke up.

"Oh we paint our nails, do our hair, talk about all the hot boys, and have pillow fights of course!" I lied with a fake happy attitude. I went back to going through my emails on my phone.

"She's joking." Taylor added. All of the sudden I felt something on my leg, but I ignored it.

"Yeah you should totally come Kendall, it's going to be a blast." Before I knew it, I felt myself change and then my tail was hanging off the end of my bed.

"That one had a nineteen second delay."

"You okay?" Taylor snickered.

"Fine, thanks Kendall!" I said with that same fake attitude I had before. He chuckled. I steam dried myself while I watch Kendall pick up his laptop and begin typing.

"Your lucky my doors locked! My brother could have come in and this would have been all your fault." I changed back to my human form.

"But it is, so aren't we lucky?"

"Ugh, your annoying." I groaned.

"Okay anyway, so sleepover Friday night. How about my house?" Taylor offered.

"Perfect. I'll text Kylie the plans. Want me to bring anything?"

"I got the popcorn at my house. So pillows, movies, anything you want."

"Okay, I'll just get a lot and you and Kylie can choose whatever one."

"Wait, you guys are doing it this Friday?"

"I was joking about you being invited!"

"No, it's not that. It's just that, well here on this website, it says that mermaids are effected by the full moon, which is tomorrow."

"Well that's only one website, they're probably just making it up."

"No, no, it's been on at least five of them I checked out. Maybe I should come to make sure that everything would be alright. They say they're dangerous if you see them." He informed.

"Kendall, we're mermaids not werewolf's!"

"But the websites—"

"Are wrong. We can take care of ourselves perfectly fine. Looking at a moon isn't going to kill us." I commented.

"We'll be careful, okay?" Taylor said to both Kendall and me.

"Yes we will." I agreed with no intentions of worrying about this moon issue.

(**A/N: Didn't get as many reviews as I was hoping for soo only a short chapter for today! Believe me its worth it, the next chapters insane! ;) Remember to review! Love you all!)**


	10. Bad Moon Rising

_**Chapter Ten**_

_**Bad Moon Rising**_

_**Meet Me At The Equinox by Death Cab For Cutie**_

All three of us were in Taylor's bedroom setting up our mattresses. I threw my overnight bag onto the bed and rolled out the blue sleeping bag. Taylor walked out back into the room from changing into her pajamas in the bathroom.

"Let's watch the movies downstairs." Taylor suggested.

"What do we have to choose from?"

"Mean Girls, The Notebook, The Hangover, 127 Hours, or Inception." I looked through the discs of movies. I grabbed my pajamas and headed towards the bathroom. Quickly, I changed into my black tank top and red pajama shorts. Before I could walk back into the room, the girls were already heading downstairs, so I followed them.

"I vote for Mean Girls." I called when we walked into the living room. Taylor, who had four blankets in her hands, threw them down on the couch and floor.

"So Mean Girls it is?" She asked. Kylie nodded. Suddenly, a knock at the door made our heads pop up.

"Are your parents home?" Kylie wondered.

"No they're at a business meeting in Miami, they wont be back until the morning. Go see if its' my sister, I thought she was staying at a friends house tonight." Taylor directed. I walked over to the front door and looked through the peephole.

"Oh my god." I groaned.

"What's wrong? Who is it?" I swung open the front door.

"Didn't we tell you we're fine?" I put my hands on my hips and looked at Kendall.

"So how's the sleepover going?" He totally ignored my question and walked right past me.

"Hale, who is—Kendall? What are you doing here?" Taylor shot up from working with the DVD player.

"Figured I should just stick around just incase something bad happens. And I was in the mood for popcorn and a good movie." He sat down on the couch.

"We're fine, Kendall. Do you see the house on fire or any fish tails? Exactly." I stood in front of him.

"Oh whatever, if anything happens I'll be here, if anything doesn't, I'll leave later in the night."

"Or you can leave now." I muttered.

"He can stay, let him have peace of mind." Kylie sat down on the couch, reasoning with Kendall.

"If he has to." Taylor turned down the lights then sat down on the couch. She picked up the remote control and pressed play and the movie started. After fifteen minutes of sitting they're listening to dialogue between Lindsey Lohan and her fellow co-stars, I got bored.

"Is anyone else hungry?" I asked.

"Popcorns in the pantry." Taylor didn't take her eyes off the movie. I got up from the couch and walked over to the pantry. I searched for the box and finally found it shoved in the back between the pasta and cereal. I took a bag out, cut off the plastic and popped it in the microwave for three minutes. When I turned around and faced the sink, a light coming from the window caught my eye. High in the sky was a beautiful full moon staring me down. All of the sudden, my body felt relaxed like it was on some kind of drug. My legs felt lightweight and my heart began beating slower and slower till it was calm. I couldn't take my concentration away from the window. Facing the bright-lighted moon that looked so beautiful made me even happier, I wanted it. I needed to be with it forever, I felt happier than ever, and I wanted to swim. I needed to be in the water, I had to be! Why was I still inside? Why did I have these stupid human legs? Where was my beautiful fish tail? A beeping noise started to ring in my ears, but I ignored it.

"Hayley, the popcorns ready." A voice that belonged to Taylor interrupted my thoughts. I ignored her and kept on staring at the moon, which was smiling down to me. The noise from whatever movie we had been watching before had stopped and the house was silent. Just the way I wanted it.

"Hayley?" I could hear one of the girls get up from the couch and walked over to me. A cool hand caught my wrist and got me out of my trans.

"What are you looking at? Did you hear the popcorn go off?"

I didn't answer her for a few moments. "Let's go swimming."

"What? Where did you come up with that?"

"I want to go swimming. Now." I demanded. My face expression turned serious as I looked at Taylor. I could feel my body heating up; it was burning in the room. I wanted to be swimming at Bristol right now; my tail would make everything alright.

"Well, I guess we can finish out movie then go for a swim. Kylie and me rather not go swimming but—"

"What's wrong with you? Why aren't we going swimming! Why do you hate it so much?" I yelled.

"Gu-Gu-Guys…" Taylor stuttered. I felt my body temperature warming up, which made me realize I was angry—furious. Something was easily getting out of control. What was wrong with me? I felt like I was stuck in a desert. I checked the thermostat right next to me and it was only 70 degrees in the room. It felt like it was at least one hundred and five. My thoughts were suffocating me, all I could think about was swimming. I observed Taylor, tiny minute drops of sweat ran down her forehead. Looking at the sweat drops made me even hotter and whinier.

"Why is it so hot in here? Why aren't we swimming?" I whined. My head began to pound; a migraine erupted in my head. I started to feel afraid, what was going on with everyone?

"Why do you want to go swimming so badly? And it's actually pretty cold in here, that's why I brought the blankets down." She pointed to the couch. Kendall was the first one to come over and stand next to Taylor. Kylie was standing a few feet behind. All three were looking at me strangely. I turned my head and looked back to the moon. That same comfortable feeling came over me again and I smiled. I looked back at my friends.

"I'm going swimming." I outright said but I was stopped by Kendall's arm blocking my way.

"Hayley, what's wrong with you?" Taylor asked.

"It's the moon. I told you guys!"

"This is no time for an 'I told you so'! What do we do with her?"

"I don't know but we have to put her somewhere so she doesn't go outside."

"Hayley, we're going to go sit on the couch and watch a funny movie. We'll go swimming after? Doesn't that sound like fun? Now come with me." Kendall spoke to me like I was a dim-witted child. Taylor walked over to where Kylie was and Kendall grabbed my hand. Before he could pull me, I turned my hand into a fist and burned Kendall's hand and kicked him down to the floor.

"Don't ever touch me."

"Hayley, you're scaring us." Kylie stepped back. Both girls helped Kendall stand back up. What a stupid boy. While all of them were busy, I snuck out of the house, running down the end of the dock attached to Taylor's backyard, I dove into the cold, peaceful, blue water and transformed myself into my beautiful mermaid self.

I swam to Bristol Island, enjoying the whole way. My head popped above the surface in the Moon Pool and I twirled through the water. I couldn't help but love the fact that only one month ago I had turned into this beautiful creature. What a wonderful gift god had given me! I chuckled to myself. Later in the night, two more heads popped up. Taylor and Kylie. We all exchanged glances and began to giggle. When the moon reached the top of the opening, the water began to bubble. We all danced around in the water and happily screamed. From there, I could tell that it was going to be an interesting night.

A ringing noise woke me up from a sound sleep. My head was pounding before I even opened my eyes. Apart from mine, I heard two other groans. I opened my eyes and found that I was lying in Taylor's bed with Taylor and Kylie. The ringing noise was coming from a phone, but the real question was, whose was it?

"Go away." I mumbled.

Kylie groaned. "Hayley, get that." She kicked me off the bed and I landed on one of the blow up mattresses.

"Ah, your up." A male voice said and all three of us screamed.

"Kendall? What are you doing here?" Taylor yelled. My thoughts traced back to last night. I remembered opening the door, watching the movie, making popcorn and that was it. What had happened? Why couldn't I remember anything we did last night?

"Guys, what happened last night?" I sat myself up on the mattress.

"You don't remember?" Kendall looked at me. I looked back to the other girls and they looked at each other, shaking their heads.

"Last thing I remember was Hayley running out of the house and us trying to go get her."

"Same." Taylor agreed.

"What? I ran out of the house?"

"Yeah, you were out of control."

"Last thing I remember was getting the popcorn! Why don't I remember anything?"

"You were moonstruck." Kendall commented.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Since I was up getting you guys back here all night, I did my research on it, since I was right about the moon affecting you mermaids. When you look at the full moon or the reflection of the full moon, it changes your whole mindset and brain waves. It mixes with a few nerves and molecules I guess and you go—"

"In English." I demanded.

"It makes you go crazy and apparently you cant remember what happens."

"I'm afraid to ask this, but what did happen?" I wondered.

"Lets see, you yelled at Taylor about how you wanted to go swimming, you burned and kicked me down for grabbing your hand, you pushed me in the moon pool, then kicked and screamed the whole way back to the house, oh and you refused to dry off yourself and the other girls so all three of you had a tail for most of the night. And I was forced to lock you in the room."

"What did we do?" Kylie wondered.

"You two weren't that bad, but still bad. Kylie, you refused to get out of the moon pool and you also pushed me in the moon pool, you tried to get out of the house multiple times, and you wouldn't stop talking about the water. Taylor, you didn't want to get onto the boat, you kept trying to go back to Bristol and you froze a glass of water I kept trying to drink."

"I think we should all say sorry for what we put you through." Taylor said with wide eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Same, so sorry Kendall!" Kylie apologized.

"No worries girls. Just next time we're listening to me when I'm sure I'm right about something, because I'm always right!" he proudly said.

"Don't flatter yourself." I smirked.

**(A/N: 19 Reviews! Woaahhh! I actually smiled when I saw this, you guys are awesome! This is my highest reviewed story so far! Way to go all of your reviewers, free virtual hug ;) Well this was the full moon chapter, 3 or more reviews and you get the next chapter asap! Next Chapters going to be important in the story! Thanks and review please!) **


	11. Saving The Day

_**Chapter Eleven**_

_**Saving The Day**_

_**Chapter Song: Animal by Neon Trees**_

"I still can't believe what we did to Kendall." Taylor sighed while sipping on her smoothie.

"Your joking right? You guys didn't do anything half as bad as me. I burned and kicked him. But, now that I think of it, is actually hilarious. Besides, it's been a good four days since it happened, give it up." I chuckled.

"No its not! You left a burn mark! And I had to freeze it so it was fine after a while."

"Oh whatever, it wont happen again." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh my god, it will!" Kylie gasped.

"What?" Taylor noticed.

"Every month of every single year we have to deal with these full moons and avoiding them! What are we going to do? Lock ourselves away in our rooms with the windows closed?"

"That's a possibility." Taylor shrugged.

"Yeah, if were rats." I commented.

"Seriously, let's think."

"Covering up the windows?" Taylor suggested.

"With what?" Kylie wondered.

"Cardboard, garbage bags, really anything so we're safe."

"We're still going to have to be locked away in our rooms. If our parents see the windows covered, they are going to think we're mental." I commented.

"Lets make a promise right now that every full moon we will have a sleep over so we're never alone." Kylie put her hands together.

"What if we're sick?" Taylor asked.

"Then we've got to be dying." I smirked.

"Not funny."

"Oh take a joke." I laughed. Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Okay well than, this has been enough mermaid full moon talk for one day. I'm going for a swim. Anyone want to join?" I stood up. Both girls shook their heads.

"Then I'll see you guys tomorrow." I took the last sip of my vanilla milkshake and slid my phone into my back pocket.

"Bye." Both girls said while I walked out of the Coral Island Café. Thankfully, there was a dock right next to the café for small boats that wanted to park there. It was quite a small dock, nothing major like the marina. There were posts to tie the boats to and that was about it. Luck was on my side today since no boats were taking up the space. I quickly looked both ways and behind me before diving into the water and going for a long and relaxing swim.

I swam beside a dolphin, who couldn't figure out what exactly I was. It must have been confusing to him since I had the tail of a fish and the head and torso of a human. I rolled over in the smooth water and watched the dolphin copy me. Silently, I laughed and petted him. He let me grab onto his fin and he gild me through the water. Suddenly we stopped when there was a lot of activity going on above us. I could see a boat speed over the area I was in with the dolphin, and then soon a shadow of a board and a human pass over us. I squinted my eyes and carefully swam up to the surface. The dolphin stayed under the water, waiting for me to come back so we could play some more. Whoever passed over us wasn't facing me, but I could see who it was clearly. Stefan Montgomery.

"Cameron, go faster." He yelled loudly as he wake boarded.

"Okay!" Cameron Miller, Stefan's just as jerky best friend, called back. I rolled my eyes and swam back under. When I went back to go play with the dolphin, his eyes were filled with fear. He quickly swam away before I could even touch him. Was he scared because of the motion above us? Was he scared of me? He couldn't be. But soon enough I found out what he was scared about. A shark that looked about ten to fifteen feet long was swimming in large circles a few yards away. There was nothing I could hide behind, so I cautiously swam in place and kept my eye on the shark. I didn't want to be his dinner. Out of nowhere, a big splash came from under water. I could see his board floating on the surface so he had clearly fallen. He was close to the shark and I knew this wasn't going to end well. I watched Stefan struggle to swim back up and I reluctantly followed him while keeping my head half under water and half above water.

"Cameron?" He yelled and spit out seawater from his mouth.

"Cameron!" He screamed, glaring at the boat driving off with the music blaring. Cameron was unable to hear Stefan. His wakeboard floated next to him, so Stefan grabbed onto it for dear life. Then, she sharks fin popped up and it began circling the helpless rich boy. As much as I hated Stefan, I had to do something. I couldn't let him get eaten. Then he gasped.

"Ca-Ca-Cameron! Somebody! Help me!" My heart ached for him. If only he knew I was here and could swim him back to shore. But that would blow my whole secret. And Stefan was the last person I wanted to know about my tail. I had to think of what to do. What was there to do? Then it came to me—sharks hate heat! I got myself down to the bottom near the sand and I balled my fist. Bubbles appeared around Stefan and I could feel the water rise in temperature. The shark didn't leave at first but once I tried to heat up his blood, he darted away. I couldn't see it to clearly since I was underwater, but Stefan's face had mixed feelings of being scared and utter confusion at why the water had just heated up. After five minutes, Cameron and his boat came back and Stefan was led to safety. They left the boat stalled for a minute and I listened to their conversation.

"Cam! It was huge! At least fifteen feet!"

"Dude, I don't see a fifteen foot shark." He looked down into the ocean. I hid myself against the side of the ski boat.

"I swear! It was huge and it was circling me! Then right when it was probably about to eat me the water started to heat up and it was bubbling! How sick is that? The shark swam away."

"Right very funny. The second I turned the radio off I could hear your little girl screams!" He laughed.

"Shut up, I'm serious." He groaned.

"Right, fifteen foot shark. It was probably a dolphin."

"It wasn't! It was a shark! A huge shark!"

"Really then? Where is it? I don't see a shark anywhere."

"I told you! The water started bubbling and it heated up! Sharks don't like warm water so it swam away!" Stefan explained. Cameron bent down and touched the water.

"Water feels normal to me. You're out of your mind, Stefan. Wait till I tell everybody about this."

"You don't believe me?"

"What I do believe is that my dad's going to kill me if you get one drop of water on anything of his brand new boat. He doesn't even know I took it out!"

"Where do you want me to sit then?"

"I don't know or care, the sides?"

"Fine." Stefan mumbled and began to walk to the side where I was hiding. I flipped myself over and swam back to shore knowing that Stefan was okay.

"You should be proud of me." I spoke over the phone to Kylie.

"Why?" She asked.

"I just saved Stefan Montgomery from a shark attack." I mentally smiled to myself.

"What? He knows? Of all people! Hayley!"

"Calm down he doesn't know anything. I was out for my swim and then I saw a shark so heated up the water and he swam away. You should have seen Stefan telling Cameron Miller about what happened it was amazing. Cameron didn't believe anything Stefan said."

"How do you know what they said?"

"I hid on the side of the boat. It was huge, they couldn't see me."

"I swear your could have exposed us." Kylie said seriously.

"But I didn't! And I saved the biggest jerk ever from being a shark's lunch; you should give me a little award. I'm a hero." I joked around.

Kylie didn't laugh. "Still, you cant ever do that again. We could get exposed. You don't want that now, do you? Stay away from Stefan."

"You think I _don't_ want to stay away from Stefan? Ew. I hate him; I only did it so he didn't get hurt! That doesn't change anything about how I feel for that idiot."

"Fine. I forgot to ask, where are you?"

"Walking home, why?"

"Just wondering. I got to go finish up studying; I'll talk to you tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay. Bye." I hung up and walked into the house.

It was already eight o'clock and I was finishing up my homework that I had left till the last minute. Even thought I kept getting distracted through out the night by phone calls, checking emails, or day dreaming about my tail, I still managed to get most of the work done. Procrastination at it's best. _Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Come in" I said to whomever knocked on my door.

"Hi sweetie. How's homework going?" My mom walked in.

"It's homework, it's terrible." I groaned.

"Would you mind doing a huge favor for me if you're done with your homework? If not I'll just ask your father to do it when he gets home."

"No it's okay, I'm finished." I lied and scribbled random numbers onto my paper, making it look like I did my work.

"Ah perfect then, would you mind taking a little walk for me?"

"A walk? Sure, but mind on telling me why?"

"I'm not feeling up to par so could you go and pick up some takeout from the Coral Island Café? You told me it's really good so I decided to order dinner from there since I didn't feel good enough to cook."

"Yeah, it's no problem." I got up from my bed and walked downstairs while my mom went into her room and went back to bed. Since my dad was at work and had the car, I walked all the way back to the café. Swimming halfway there would have been faster, but I was too lazy to dry myself off, and besides, it was probably to risky. It was already dark outside and ahead I could see the lights from the café lighting up the pathway. With my hands in my jean pockets, I casually walked into the café to find it extremely busy. Most of the booths were filled and there were a few tables in the middle moved together so a big crowd could sit together. That big crowd was people from my school. A few of the girls looked at me, giggled, then turned back their attention to what their friends were saying. I rolled my eyes at them as they laughed like hyenas. They all looked like Barbie dolls, giggling and whispering to each other. I could never stand the cliques at school. I'm never afraid to speak up about it either. Besides, who cares what anyone thinks? That's what I hated most about Washington, the people. They just irritated me so much, but I never paid attention to what they said about me. I was better than that, to let someone else judge me. I waited in line at the cash register to get my order so in the meantime; I overheard the conversation between my classmates. Besides, who couldn't since they were talking so loud?

"Oh, so then after Stefan told me to go faster, sometime after that he fell of and I didn't hear since I was jamming out, so I sort of left him there in the middle of the ocean." Cameron, who was sitting on top of one of the tables laughed. He had his feet on a chair. Stefan caught my eye; he was the only one in the crowd that sat silent and with his arms crossed. He had an angered look on his face and he didn't speak to anyone.

One fake-dyed blonde girl laughed hysterically. "What happened next?" She wondered.

"Well I came back and he was screaming like a little girl. 'Help me! Help me! Shark! There's a shark! Oh he's fifteen feet long and he was attacking me! The water was bubbling and it heated up! Help me, Cameron, help me!' But guess what guys; there wasn't a shark there! The water was as calm as come be, and for the record I felt the water, it was cold and I didn't see any bubbles." Cameron attempted to mock Stefan and succeeded in making fun of him. I shook my head in disappointment and annoyance. Everybody at that table obnoxiously broke out into a laugh.

"Oh my god I'm crying! That's amazing!" Another girl ridiculously giggled.

"Your such a freak, Stefan!" One of the guys clapped.

"Miss? Miss?" The cashier made me turn my head backs around and pay attention to anything but Stefan and his group.

"Huh? Yes?"

"How can I help you?" he asked.

"Oh sorry I was just—never mind. Right, I have an order to pick up."

"Last name?"

"Baker."

"Let me go get your order, it just finished up." He walked into the back through the doors that said 'Staff Only'. I turned back to Stefan who sat there looking even angrier than ever. He finally stood up and left through the back door. His so called friends laughed at him.

"What's got him?" Cameron looked out the door, not even bothering to go check on his friend.

"That'll be twenty nine fifty." The cashier rang up my order up. I took my money out of my pocket and paid him the thirty dollars I had.

"It's fine, keep it." I told the cashier when he tried to give me my fifty cents back.

"Here's your or—"

"Can you keep it here for five minutes tops? I'll be right back I have to go do something outside."

"Yeah, it'll be right here when you come back." He said.

"Thanks." I walked out the back door and saw Stefan standing on the small dock that I had jumped off of earlier. I slowly walked over to him and stood next to him, I looked up at the moon, which was barley a sliver. You could see our reflection in the moving water.

"Your brave." I spoke up, holding my hands together.

"Brave? For what?" he sounded surprise.

"For sitting there while your friends totally bashed you. It takes guts."

"They just don't believe me, I look stupid."

"If it means anything, I do believe you."

"Thanks, you're the only one that does."

"I've been around Bristol Island and the places near there, I've seen some sharks there, I'm not doubting you on this one."

"And the bubbling and heating of the water?"

"Strange things happen out there, you never know." I shrugged. He gave me a hopeful smile. Before Stefan could speak again, I turned around and headed to go pick up my takeout once again and finally go home.

**A/N: Lets pray for the people in Japan, Hawaii, California, Alaska, and all the small islands affected by the tsunami and earthquake. Thank you for all the reviews! Another chapter updated tomorrow! By the way, will anyone give me some song suggestions? I need some more :/ Its hard thinking of some even though I have 800 songs in my iTunes! Speaking of iTunes, how cool is the new iPad 2? I want to get it so bad! Well anyways, good bye for today! **


	12. Kylie's Big Night

_**Chapter Twelve**_

_**Kylie's Big Night**_

_**Chapter Song: Big Night by Big Time Rush**_

The last bell rang for school and I walked out of English class with Taylor. We had just finished taking a test for forty-five minutes and I was completely exhausted from it. At least it was Friday, my second favorite day of the week, besides Saturday of course.

"How do you think you did?" Taylor wondered.

"Fifty? Sixty? Somewhere in that range."

"Really? I'm positive I got a hundred, or maybe a ninety-nine. Anything around that!"

"Well that's because you read the book. Reading's not my thing."

"How bad are you doing in the class?"

"Oh god, I don't know, I don't check my grades." I laughed.

"If you want, I can tutor you." She offered.

"Tay, you're my friend, not my teacher."

"I'm serious, any subject you want I'll help you in, just tell me." I smiled to her. Inside my backpack, I felt my phone buzz. I slung it onto one shoulder and unzipped the small pocket to take out my phone. I read the message, which was from Kylie.

"What's wrong?" Taylor asked, noticing me staring at the message.

"It's Kylie. She asked if I was with you and if I was for both of us to meet her at the moon pool because it's important." I said verbatim.

"Right now? What do we do with our backpacks? They wont _transform_ with us." Taylor worried, whispering the word transform.

"We'll figure it out." We walked out of the school building and down the parking lot. It was a ten-minute walk down to the beach, which wasn't bad considering it was blazing hot out.

"So where do we put our backpacks?" Taylor asked, again.

"Umm…" I searched for a place to put our bags. It would look weird if two backpacks were sitting on the sand, so we had to be sneaky and hide them.

"There." I walked over to the big piles of rocks and I stuffed my backpack in between them. It wasn't visible unless you really tried to look.

"We should have just put them in Kendall's car." She sighed and stuffed her backpack in with mine.

"Oh shut up it's a good place. Lets go already!" I

"Alright, fine." She pulled of her jacket and jetted ahead for the water. We looked at our surroundings before running into the ocean, and when it was deep enough, diving in. Taylor was adjacent to me. With the flick of my tail; I jetted ahead of my friend.

I got to the moon pool first, my head popped up from the surface to find Kylie with her arms crossed on the ground and her body in the water. Her head was lying on her arms and her tail was facing me. Taylor took a breath of air when she appeared.

"Kylie?" Taylor looked at her.

"Oh, hey guys I didn't hear you come in."

"It's okay. What was with the message? Did something happen?"

"Yeah, I need both of your opinions on something."

"That's why you called us here? We could have done that at school or my house or on the phone."

"Well, this is serious!"

"Oh, well spit it out!"

"So today, remember how I was saying that Mason Grabeel, the guy in our math class, is really cute?" She asked. I nodded my head, remembering our conversation. Taylor stayed silent.

"Well today after class, he kind of asked me out." She shyly admitted. Taylor and I both squealed for her.

"What did you say?" Taylor asked.

"I don't know what to stay!"

"How about a yes?" I laughed.

"I didn't give him an answer yet! Isn't it risky because of our problem?" she squirmed her tail.

"Ah, what's life without a little danger." I shrugged.

"So I should seriously do it?"

"Go for it." Taylor said. I smiled, extremely happy for her.

She squealed. "This is my first boy friend! I can't believe this! Hale, will you dry me? My phones in my pocket." She hopped up onto the ground and rolled onto her back. I balled my fist and steam appeared around her. In a matter of seconds, she was back in her human form. I've never seen Kylie move so quickly, she snatched the phone out of her pocket, dialed a number, and pressed the phone to her ear.

"This is just to cute! I love cutesy moments like this. It's so sweet!" Taylor giggled.

"The whole sappy romantic thing just isn't me." I shook my head.

"Hey, it's Kylie." She spoke into the phone. For the next five minutes, Kylie was giggling and talking on the phone with Mason.

"Sounds good, I'll talk to you later tonight then. Bye." She hung up.

"So?"

"Our date is tonight!" She tried to hide her excitement, but she failed terribly.

"Well, lets go get ready!" Taylor motioned her hand to the exit of the moon pool.

"Really, you guy's will help me get ready?"

"Of course! Right, Hayley?" Taylor eyed me, knowing that helping Kylie get all dressed up was one of the last things I would do on my Friday nights.

"What are friends for." I shrugged, Kylie replied with an overly happy smile. This would just going to be for like an hour right? It's not that bad.

"You guys are fantastic!" She squealed, I've never seen her so happy.

"Okay we get it we're awesome, lets go before you miss your own date." I pointed out the fact that we were wasting time. Kylie jumped into the water and then swam out. Taylor swam out next and then finally I went behind her.

Kylie was searching through her closet for an outfit to wear. Frantically, she threw half the content on her floor and half on her bed.

"What about this?" She took out a floral print hot pink and green skirt.

"Yeah, if you want to make him barf." I looked at the skirt in disgust.

"Your right, I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this."

"Next!" I plopped myself on her bed filled with clothes. She threw the skirt down on the ground.

"Last years homecoming dress?" She took out the light pink dress.

"To fancy." Taylor said, sitting patiently in the chair next to her desk. She threw it up on the air and it landed on me. I gave her a look and threw it back at her.

"Sorry! I'll start hanging them up." She blushed. I nodded in agreement. She hung the dress up on its hanger and put it back in its rightful place.

"What about this dress? It's not to fancy, right?" She held up a dark blue, floral summer dress with spaghetti strap sleeves.

"Perfect! Oh Kylie, this is going to be amazing!" Taylor smiled.

"How should I do my hair?"

"Curls?"

"Of course! The curlers in my bathroom, mind getting it?" She asked Taylor. Taylor nodded her head and went on a search through the bathroom. Two minutes later she came out with it and plugged it in. Kylie took Taylor's spot next to the desk and we began to do her hair. Taylor brushed it out while I attempted to work the curler.

"It takes a while to heat up so we can just wait." Kylie said.

"I don't feel like waiting." I turned my hand into a fist and heated up the metal.

"We can always do that." Taylor looked in amassment. I did a pretty good job at curling Kylie's hair, minus the fact that I burned my self a couple of times. I didn't hurt too much, but Taylor cooled them off with her power.

"He's here! He's here! What do I do?" Kylie ran around the room putting her black ballet flats on.

"What time are you gonna be back?" Taylor asked.

"Nine? It's only dinner."

"Want us to wait here for when you come back?" Taylor oddly asked.

"Sure, just don't break anything!" She ran downs stairs and opened the door.

"Hi Mason." She smiled.

"Wow, you look gorgeous." He commented.

"Thank you!" They walked out and shut the door. We both ran to Kylie's window and watched the two lovebirds get into the car. While Mason had his back turned to the window, Kylie saw us and motioned for us to shoo away before he saw us. We giggled and sat ourselves on her bed.

"So, up for some TV?" I asked Taylor.

"These reality shows our stupid. Why are we watching this?" Taylor asked for the third time tonight. At first, we started watching a scary movie, but she thought it was to scary.

"It's either this or a scary movie. There's nothing on." I told her after flipping through all five hundred channels. It was Friday night, why wasn't there anything good on? The reality shows are entertaining since the stars of them are hilariously idiotic, but it was getting old.

"Can't we rent a movie? Or maybe we can go for a swim."

"What happened to you not liking swimming because of our mermaid thing? Are you finally over it?"

"Until this mermaid problem ends, I'm going to try to enjoy it. Besides, swimming with dolphins is pretty awesome." She chuckled.

"You've been going for swims by yourself haven't you? Oh look who lives having her tail now!"

"I do, I'll admit it it's pretty awesome! I went diving with Kendall yesterday, let me tell you, that's an incredible sight." In the middle of Taylor talking, the alarm to the house beeped twice, alerting that a door was opened. Then I heard the door close.

"Kylie?" I called down. She didn't answer but I looked at the clock, and it was nine thirty, this had to be her.

"Yeah?" She finally answered, but she didn't sound right. I looked at Taylor and we both walked over to the stairwell to find Kylie dragging herself up the stairs. She didn't speak at all about how her date was she walked right past us and into her room.

"Kylie, what's wrong?" Taylor sat beside her.

"How was the date? Spit it out!" I told her and she just looked at me with watery eyes.

"Terrible." She sniffed and tears spilled down her cheek.

"Well I wasn't expecting that answer." I bit my lip.

"I—" Kylie started speaking but then she sparkled blue and her tail appeared.

"Even when we cry to!" She continued to cry.

"It's okay. Tell us what happened." Taylor hugged her.

"I spilled water all over me! When I reached for a piece of bread! It was all over me! I ran to the bathroom and thank god no one was in there. I sat there for a half hour trying to dry myself. There was a dryer in the bathroom stall I was in but I was so far down to the ground it barley worked." She cried.

"Why didn't you call Hayley or me? Hayley could have came an dried you."

"My phone was in my purse, at the table!"

"What did you tell him how you dried off so fairly quickly?"

"I told him I used the dryer. He was wondering why I was in there so long. He could have seen my tail! He would think I'm such a freak! I'm a mer-freak!" She cried onto me.

"We don't need more mermaids in the room." I kindly pushed her off of me.

"Sorry." She sniffed.

"Well, were mer-freaks together so don't you worry." We patted her back.

"Thanks guys. You're the best."

"What about the rest of the date? How did it go?"

"Well the beginning was good, and the end was great." She took a tissue from Taylor and began to wipe off the tears on her red and blotchy face.

"Great? Wait that—oh my god did he kiss you?" I looked at her.

"Maybe." She chuckled.

"Kylie! The date was awesome! Who cares about the fact for that half hour there was a little mishap, that's great! Is he your boyfriend now?"

"No, not yet. But he invited me to homecoming."

"When is homecoming?"

"Few weeks from now."

"You should be so excited! Homecoming with your soon to be boyfriend." Taylor winked. Kylie dried her face from her tears and she turned back into a human.

"Will you guys go shopping with me? You know, for a dress and shoes?" She asked.

"Yes! Oh my god, we'll have the best time on a shopping spree!" Taylor shrieked in joy.

"Oh god no." I groaned.

"Why?"

"I hate shopping, and malls, and anything around that topic."

"What girl doesn't love shopping?"

"This girl."

"Then this shopping trip is going to be better than expected." Both girls grinned at me with excited smiles upon their faces. Somehow, I knew I was going to be forced onto this exciting shopping trip of theirs and it wasn't going to be fun.

**(A/N: IMPORTANT UPDATE MUST READ! So the only reason I updated this chapter early is because I need to do a survey. I didn't get as much as reviews as I wanted for this chapter but, here you go anyways lol. So next chapter they will discuss homecoming. Would you like to see Hayley go shopping for a homecoming dress and go to homecoming or just go help Kylie & Taylor go shopping for their dresses (and only they would go to homecoming). And if you would like to see Hayley go to homecoming, what dress color would you like to see her in? I've got my idea already but I just wanted to see what everyone else thought. Okay well than, thanks for your time guys!) **


	13. Unwanted Shopping Trip

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

_**Unwanted Shopping Trip**_

_**Chapter Song: Girls Just Want To Have Fun by Greg Laswell**_

"No, no, no, I don't wanna go!" I whined like a little girl going to the dentist when the girls tried to get me out of the house to go on their shopping trip on this beautiful Sunday morning. I could be doing better things with my time, like sleeping, or swimming…or sleeping.

"Hayley, you're going!" Taylor and Kylie dragged me out of the house. I refused to go.

"Pull me one more time and I'll burn you worse than I burned Kendall." I threatened and both girls immediately let go.

"Now that's more like it." I got off the floor and patted my hands together.

"Can we please go now?" Taylor asked.

"I told you guys, I don't want to go. I'm not the shopping kind of girl."

"We'll go out for lunch. Let's just get our dresses and then we'll go to lunch. We got to look good for homecoming!" Kylie smiled with hope.

"Kylie's right! I'm hoping Kendall's going to ask me!" Taylor smiled wide with desperation dripping from every single word she spoke.

"What do you mean we?"

"Me, you, and Taylor."

"Oh no, no, no, you've got that wrong. Only you and Taylor are getting a dress, not me."

"Why? Do you already have a dress?" Taylor wondered.

"No, I'm not going to homecoming."

"What?" Both girls yelled.

"You heard me."

"But why?"

"I hate homecoming." It was plane and simple, I just really disliked dances like that. I never even went to any back in Washington. Homecoming was only for the really popular people. It was an excuse to dance with the really hot guys and get drunk before and after the party. I wasn't even going for Kylie; I wasn't letting her talk me into going. I didn't need that annoyance of seeing people from school after hours. Not my thing.

"You've got to go with us! Please! At least come dress shopping with us. Maybe then you see all the cute dresses it'll change your mind."

"Taylor's right! Maybe—"

"Okay! Okay! Just stop! I'll go with you guys but I'm not going to like it. And I'm not changing my mind on this one, no homecoming for me."

"Fine."

"I would drag you to homecoming, but you would burn me." Taylor sighed.

"Now that was funny. But let me at least go get my wallet so I can actually pay for some lunch." I ran up the stairs and into my room. I grabbed the wallet, which was basically empty. A total of three dollars and thirteen cents laid in the pockets. I sighed and searched for some left over money to buy lunch with. Sadly enough, less than four bucks wasn't going to get me a drink, so this was one of those irritating times I had to go into my college money I was secretly saving away. I took my wallet and ran downstairs with it to find the girls waiting outside for me.

"Want me to put that in my purse?" Kylie offered showing off her large white hobo bag.

"Sure, thanks." I handed it to her and she slipped it in. Taylor was the one driving, and boy was I annoyed that she was. We drove at least twenty miles an hour the whole trip to the mall, and I was about to yell at her for going so slow. It was getting on my nerves. Since she was driving her parents new car, she wanted to be extremely careful with it, so I guess going slower than a bike rider would make it 'Careful'. Remind me to never drive with her again.

"Finally." I stretched my legs once we got out of the car.

"Thank god we got a good spot!" Taylor checked out her parking skills, which weren't as bad as I thought it was. Besides driving slow, she was a good driver.

"Thank god we didn't have to drive any longer." I muttered.

"Sorry Hayley, I'm just being—"

"Careful, yeah I got it the first time." I shut the car door shut and walked into the mall with the girls. The second I walked in, I knew it was the mall. Wherever you are, malls never change. The cold air hit me as soon as the automatic doors opened. It smelled like a mixture of tacky perfumes, sweat, and different types of food. Sounds of children crying, a thousand different people talking, and the loud noise of the large fountain in the center echoed around the large building. It was all the same and it always would be. Same stores, same food, same smells, same annoying crowd.

"Where can we look for dresses?" Taylor wondered.

"Macys, Nordstroms, anywhere really." Kylie answered.

"How about the store over there? I see some dresses in the window." Taylor pointed to a store with bright lights ten or so stores down. We walked in there the girls went crazy looking at all the fancy dresses. I sat down on one of the uncomfy chairs that they had and watched my friends have a little to much fun.

"Tay, how's this look?" Kylie held up a floor length dress to her body and twirled around.

"It's homecoming, not prom." I commented, noticing the dress was a bit to fancy.

"Fine." She pouted and put it back in the place where it belonged.

"I like this!" Taylor showed a green dress. She went to go try it on and when she came back out, she looked at us sadly.

"Look bad?"

"Yeah." She hung it back up. Taylor picked out at least four or five different dresses and went back into the dressing room to try it on. Kylie followed her by topping it off with trying on seven different dresses. Boredom was getting the best of me, so I got up from the chair and looked at some of the dresses hanging up. A satin red bubble dress and a short strapless black dress caught my eye. Even though I hated shopping and trying on the clothes, I would have loved to try both the dresses on. They were gorgeous and expensive, so that was mainly my problem. The fact that I hated going to homecoming flooded back into my mind, so I put back the dresses. If either one of the girls saw me holding or looking at the dresses, they would somehow convince me to go to this stupid dance.

"Would you like to try those on?" A sales woman came up to me.

"No thanks." I awkwardly said and went back to my seat waiting for them.

"Tay, you done?"

"Yeah. Did you find anything?"

"I'm debating between two! I don't know which one!"

"Are you dressed?"

"Yeah."

"Then come out, me and Hayley will help you decide." Taylor said and I groaned once she said my name. The lock on Kylie's door opened first and then Taylors. They both walked out with clothing in their hands. Taylor held an electric blue chiffon dress while Kylie was holding a halter-top, silky, sea foam green dress and also a poofy, pastel pink, strapless dress.

"I don't know which to pick." She sighed.

"Personally, I like the pink one." Taylor commented.

"Hale, what do you think?"

"I told you I'm not a big fan of pink, but I do like it better than the other one."

"So the pink one it is?" She asked and we both nodded.

"You know we have to go get shoes now right?" Kylie raised an eyebrow.

"You guys are just trying to kill me, aren't you?" I commented,

**(A/N PLEASE READDD: Last chance to vote, kind of disappointed that only one person commented on the last chapter -.- way to go guys, letting me down.**

**So, I like Zikki4ever123's idea a lot but does anyone else have any other ideas?**

**If you didn't read my author note last time heres the question again: Would you want Hayley to end up going to homecoming or not? PLEASE REVIEW 3 ) **


	14. The Homecoming Hangover

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

_**The Homecoming Hangover**_

_**Chapter Song: 1983 by Neon Trees**_

Taylor was sitting on a chair moping about how Kendall didn't ask her to homecoming while Kylie was already lying clothes, make up, shoes, and hair accessories out in my room. Now what was I doing? I was sitting reading a magazine and eating a bag of chips. I was stupid enough to agree to let the girls get ready at my house and it was killing me. Taylor couldn't stop whining about how Kendall didn't even talk to her about homecoming the past week and a half and then Kylie was jumping around my room like a little kid on a sugar high. I've never seen her so excited and I've never seen Taylor so sad. There were way too many emotions in the room for me right now.

"I don't understand why he didn't ask me! I'm good enough to go with him! We've been friends for so many years. Did he say anything to you guys?"

"Taylor, for the six hundredth time, he didn't say anything to me or Kylie. He probably has something going on and just doesn't want to talk about it with anyone—including you!"

"Sorry Tay, he just hasn't talked about homecoming with any of us."

"Buy the way guys, he texted me yesterday. Full moon tomorrow night."

"Has he been bothering you guys with a lot of mermaid business lately?" She wondered.

"He keeps asking me for a piece of hair. I told him I'll punch him in the face if he asks one more time." I shrugged and put the magazine down.

"Really? He asked me for a scale!"

"He keeps asking me to do tests. I've told him yes but then he just never calls me."

"Taylor, you don't want him being in love with the mermaid you not the real you." I commented.

"Exactly. I don't know what to do."

"I'll tell you what your gonna do. Your going to go get ready for homecoming because if you don't, your gonna be late." I laughed.

"Huh? What time is it?"

"Like five thirty. Oh my god we should be getting ready!" Kylie squealed so loud I almost had to cover my ears.

"Go ahead, go use my bath." I waved a hand towards my bathroom.

"I already showered before I came, I didn't want to take time up."

"Same."

"Then go get ready!" I commanded, picking up my magazine and reading where I left off. For the next hour and a half, both girls ran around my room like lunatics trying to get ready. I had to heat up my curler for them since they were to lazy to wait, but then again I would be too. They took turns doing each others hair since I refused to do it, and while they did their make up I kept hearing multiple groans and a ton of 'aw, that color looks real good on you's coming from the bathroom. After what seemed like an eternity, the girls came out all dressed. Kylie was wearing her pastel pink strapless dress we bought in the store and black heels on. She had a silver heart locket around her neck and a pair of silver drop earrings. Taylor also had the electric blue dress that went to her knees on. She wore it with white heels and a pair of gold earrings.

"Well don't you guys look fancy." I commented, shutting the magazine.

"Do we look okay?" Taylor asked.

"You know you guys look fine."

"Thanks Hale!"

"We should get going. It's almost seven."

"We're gonna be late! Lets go."

"You two have fun know! Have each other back before eleven. Now try not to get wet!" I joked but they both groaned. They walked out of my room and I heard them shut the front door. I looked out the window and saw that the sun was just about to set, so I shut my windows and went down stairs to watch some TV. Tonight was going to be pretty boring. But hey, I had it all to myself. Logan was sleeping over his friends and my parents were on 'date night'. Cheesy, I know.

Just my luck, nothing was on TV. I've must have gone through the channels thirty times already. It was Saturday night, how was there nothing on TV? I watched part of a movie but it got boring after a while so I just changed the station to something even more boring. This was impossible! When I went to try to take another look at shows, the doorbell rang.

"Who is it now." I groaned. I got off the couch and opened the front door to find Kendall standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, thank god your normal." He made a sigh of relieve.

"And your not." I retorted and he walked into my house.

"And you're coming into my house why? Kendall I swear to god if you ask me for once more piece of hair I wont hesitate killing you."

"There's been a little mix up." He rubbed the back of his neck and quickly shut the door.

I rolled my eyes. "What did you do now?"

"So you know how I told you guys the full moons tomorrow night? Well I did some recalculations and then looked outside…the full moons tonight. But it's okay! You're alright, now I'll just go get the other girls. Any chance you know where they are?"

"You idiot it's not okay! They're at homecoming!" I walked quickly into the other room and grabbed my phone off the counter. I dialed Taylor first and waited for it to ring.

"Homecoming? That was tonight?"

"You really are an idiot aren't you?"

"That was tonight? Please tell me your joking! I was going to ask Taylor to that! Oh god, I've been working real hard on my IB exams.'"

"Yeah thanks to you she was upset you didn't ask her. Damn it she didn't pick up." I then tried calling Kylie.

"Call Kylie."

"Thank you captain obvious!"

"Hey, you've reached Kylie! I'm not here right now so leave me a message and I'll get—"I slammed my phone down on the counter and cut off the answering machine.

"It went straight to voicemail. Ugh, Kendall! We're going to get exposed! If they get moon struck they're gonna pour water on themselves or something stupid like that!"

"So what are we going to do if we cant get a hold of them?"

"Clearly we have to go to the dance now. You're the smart one, shouldn't you be thinking of these things?"

"I've been busy with IB work this week, not my problem!"

"Yes, it is your problem!"

"You can't go out though, you'll get moon struck."

"I'll put a jacket over my face. It'll be fine." I grabbed my jacket off the couch and ran to the door.

"Try something funny and I'll burn you." I winked and threw the jacket over my head. Kendall led my way to the car and buckled me in the passenger seat. I had my head against my knees and the jacket over my head. Blackness was surrounding me. I couldn't see a thing. I heard Kendall get back into the front seat and turn the car on.

"I feel stupid." I commented.

"Just close your eyes." He instructed. And for the first time in my life, I listened to him.

"Kendall, I can't believe you did this. Of all the stupid things you can do too." I said from under the jacket.

"You can blame me if they get moon struck!"

"I can blame you now!" I said and then the whole car ride was silent until we got to school.

"Here, put on my sun glasses." I threw off the jacket and quickly put the Ray-Bans on, looking down to the floor the whole time. Kendall shut the car off and helped me out of the passenger seat and we walked to the front of the school, trying to look as unsuspicious as possible. Once we safely got into the hotel, I took the glasses off and gave them back to Kendall. A poster that was propped up on a sign that said 'Key West High School Homecoming in the Lunch Room'. Kendall and I looked at each other, nodded, and went straight for the ballroom it was held in. We passed a few windows on our way, but I just looked down to the floor, avoiding any moon reflections. When made our way outside once again and walked as quickly as possible to the lunch building. The music got louder and louder as we approached the busy lunch room. I could see flashing lights through the doors and the silhouettes of students dancing. A table was set up outside the lunch room with two figures sitting next to it.

"They're going to make us pay." I groaned.

"I don't have money."

"This might be an issue." I bit my lip and did the first thing I thought of, just walk into the lunch room without talking to the two obnoxious girls I hated at the table.

"Eh hem, tickets?" Cassie Bianichi looked up from counting the amount of money in her hands. She was wearing a short hot pink dress and heels taller than the length of her index finger.

"We don't have any." Kendall put in. Could he ever just keep quiet?

"Well you need tickets to go inside! Buy some then. Only fifty bucks." Her best friend Alison Morriarity gave a fake smile to both of us.

"But we're just asking our friends something." Kendall meekly stated.

"Oh well sorry Kendall, we never know you can always be going just for fun." Cassie put on a fake pouty face.

"Cassie, do you really think that we'd be going to homecoming like this?"

"Well you'd never know." Alison chimed in.

"Wow, you two are stupider than you look. Come on, Kendall." I rolled my eyes at the blonde bimbo's and opened the doors to the lunch room. The two girls laughed.

"Well, someone's in a bad mood." Cassie giggled. They didn't look at me but I was giving them death glares. I eyed their glasses of water and balled my fist at it. The waters started to bubble and finally the plastic glasses exploded, causing water to fly everywhere, including on them and their money. Both girl's shrieked and Kendall laughed.

"Nice going." He commented.

"Stupid glass!" Cassie yelled trying to get the water out of her face. I giggled and then shut the lunchroom's glass doors. The music was blaring and strobe lights were flashing everywhere.

"I hate homecoming." I whispered.

"No time for complaining, we have to find them." Kendall started searching the room.

"Call me if you find them." I yelled over the music and we went our separate ways. I weaved my way through the crowed, ignoring glares from people about how I was dressed. After ten minutes, I found Mason, and with finding Mason, I found Kylie and Taylor.

"Guys!" I yelled.

"Hayley?"

"What are you doing here?"

"And why are you in jeans?"

"No time to answer that. If you would answer your phone that would have helped a lot. Kylie, your mom called and she needs you home now. Something's wrong." I looked at her trying to send her the message that something was wrong. But of course, she didn't get it.

"What? Is my mom okay?"

"She needs you home now." I gritted through my teeth.

"Oh my god I hope everything's alright. Mason, I'm so sorry!"

"Nah, I totally understand! Don't worry about it, go see what's wrong. Call me later okay? I want to make sure everything's all right."

"Your so sweet." She smiled and gave him a hug.

"We've got to go." I interrupted their hug and grabbed both girls and quickly walked away.

"What else did my mom say?" She worried.

"Your mom didn't call. Kendall messed up, tonight's the full moon." I got out my phone and dialed his number.

"Did you find them?" He picked up after the three rings.

"I have them."

"Are the moonstruck?"

"No."

"Oh thank god. Meet you at the car?"

"No, meet you at the front doors." I corrected him, we didn't need three mermaids walking by themselves on a full moon.

"Fine." He said and I hung up and slid the phone into my pocket.

"How did he mess up on this?" Kylie asked but I bumped into someone before I could answer.

"Oh sorry." I said as a reaction.

"Hayley?" Stefan asked. Of course.

"What?"

"I didn't know you where coming…and in jeans?" He commented. He was in a pair of black slacks, a blue dress top with rolled up sleeves, and a black vest. And nothing could be complete without his fancy Italian dress shoes. He was holding a clear plastic cup in his hands with it half full with punch.

"Maybe that's because we don't talk? And no need to comment on my outfit, I'm here for a good two seconds. Now if you don't mind, I really have to go." I began to walk away until he caught my wrist.

"Wait, can we talk for a second?"

"Make it quick." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, about the other day. Well it wasn't the other day, it was a few weeks ago—"

"Get on with it, Stefan!"

"Well—" He started to speak but then someone bumped into him, causing him to spill the drink on to my shirt.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry! I didn't mean too!"

"Whoops, sorry!" Cameron turned around and laughed.

"I've really got to go." I began to count the seconds until I was going to change as a mermaid. I couldn't do it here, in front of everyone! I ran through the crowed and into the bathroom with Taylor following me. Four…Three… I slammed open the first door. Two…One… and then ran into the girls bathroom and changed right on the floor. Thank god no one was in there. Taylor got in there the same time as me and froze the door shut so no one could get in.

"Where's Kylie?"

"We lost her back there." Taylor sighed. I steam dried my torso and then changed back in a matter of seconds. I looked at the frozen door then unfroze it. When we ran out, we found Kylie at the table with her stuff, but she was staring at the window. Which I didn't dare to look at since it was a full moon. Taylor ran in front of her and waved a hand in front of her face.

"She's moon struck." Taylor announced and then Kylie snapped out of it.

"Stefan Montgomery needs to be stopped." She said with anger in her voice.

"Kylie, it was just a mistake."

"He tried to expose you." She eyed Stefan, who was at the punch bowl re filling his glass and put out her hand, twisting and turning it. All of the sudden, the bowl of punch was shaking and it exploded on Stefan. Kylie giggled and Taylor moaned.

"We need to get her out of here."

"No, must punish Stefan. Must punish everyone in this room for not looking at the moon." She hissed. Taylor and I grabbed her by the arms and dragged her to the doors where Kendall was standing. He strangely looked at us, then to Kylie, who was kicked her feet.

"She got moon struck." Taylor plainly said to Kendall, who she was still angry at.

"Let me go!" She whined but we didn't pay attention to her.

"What? How?"

"We'll explain in the car." I said and we walked to his car, trying to not get a second moon struck mermaid.

Back at my house, we filled a bath for Kylie and forced her to go in. It was the only way she would shut up about wanting to go swimming. We all stayed in the bathroom with her, Kendall had covered all the windows in it so we brought in a few pillows and blankets to stay with her. Yeah I know, sleeping in a bathroom, it's gross.

"The moons pretty." Kylie giggled.

"Go to bed!" I yelled. Taylor and Kendall were talking in the hallway about the homecoming issue. I faintly heard Kendall saying that he wanted to ask her but he forgot homecoming was tonight. They walked back into the bathroom holding hands.

"Well looks like someone made up." I winked.

"You could say that." Taylor giggled and gave Kendall a kiss.

"Really guys? Get a room." I joked.

**(A/N: PLEASE READ: sorry I haven't updated in a while guys! Homework and school have been killing me. You know what I mean? Well I hope this makes up for it and I'll update by tomorrow or Thursday with the next chapter. ALSO: read my other h2o just add water story: Ten Seconds Later. I hope you guys enjoy it! And thanks for the reviewes, they mean a lot. Also, if you would check out my fiction press account (its on my profile) and comment on the story I have there. It would mean a lot to me! Well love you guys! And by the way, did you guys see the super moon on the 19****th****? It was incredible! I think the next full moon will be dealing with that and will give the girls some powers ;) Plus- Did any of you see Pretty Little Liars finale for season one? Totally blown away by it, I love that show! Lol comment if you saw it. Well, Bye!)**


	15. For Your Future

_A/N: Guys! I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry how much time has gone by since I last updated (which was march). It's been a blah past few months and I was updating a lot on my other story The Ghost Girl: Dani Phantom (feel free to check it out!) LOL but I know that doesnt make any excuses! I just had writers block towards this story so I just put it on hold. But I really hope this chapter makes up for it, it's just shy of 4,000 words so AKA it's pretty long! Enjoy, review, and hopefully forgive me for taking so long to update! I hope you guys still have faith in this story. _

_**Chapter Fifteen**_

_**For Your Future**_

_**Chapter Song: Marchin On by OneRepublic**_

I turned my head to the clock; it was eleven o'clock on a Saturday morning. Ew, it was way to early to be awake. At least for me it was. Sliding on a pair of shoes, I walked downstairs to get some breakfast. Logan was on the couch watching cartoons. He didn't both to look at his bowl of cereal he was so memorized by the talking sponge and starfish.

"Morning sleepy head." My mother greeted.

"Morning." I half waved back.

"Up for some eggs and toast? They're fresh!"

"Sure." I shrugged and poured myself a glass of orange juice. I took a straw out from the cabinet and slid it in my drink.

"So, how did you sleep?"

"Pretty good. Still a little tired, but I'll just go to bed early tonight."

"What time did you go to bed?"

"Midnight. Taylor and Kylie stayed late and I got caught up in stuff."

"Oh, wow. You need to start going to bed earlier."

"So, what are you doing today?" I changed subjects.

"Well I was going to go with you to the college meeting later, but a good friend of mine is coming to visit for the day so I'm going out with her. So you'll have to go on your own."

"Oh don't worry that's okay, hav—wait did you say college meeting? What are you talking about?"

"The college meeting tonight?"

"Since when do I have a college meeting? When were you planning to tell me this?"

"I told your father to tell you. Oh he's going to get it." My mother huffed.

"Can you at least tell me about it now? I don't want to go to some stupid college meeting!"

"It's for your own good! It's not really a meeting; it's a seminar and dinner. A few wealthy men and woman are coming in to talk to you about what you need for a good college to accept you, what they're looking for, and what you'll need after college." She smiled like this would be fun. As if.

"It's okay mom, I don't really feel like going."

"No, no, no! Your going." My father walked in happily.

"Yeah, thanks for telling me earlier, dad." I mumbled.

"I'm sorry, I really thought I told you!"

"Yeah, you didn't. Do I seriously have to go? I have plans—"

"Then you'll just have to reschedule them. We bought you a ticket for a reason, we think it'll be good for you."

"You can return them."

"No refunds.

"Of course." I rolled my eyes. "What do I have to wear, what time is it, you guys need to tell me these things." I tried to get the ball rolling.

"It starts at four thirty, and dress nice."

"So a pair of shorts and a T-shirt." I smirked.

"No, like a dress and heels." My mom flipped the pan of eggs onto a plate while I chocked on my orange juice a little bit.

"I hate heels! They're so uncomfortable! Come on, the dress code down here is shorts. We don't even have a dress code here! I'm sure I don't need a dress."

"We're sure you need a dress. It says it right on the invitation."

"Hayley, you're not going to win this fight with them!" Logan paused the TV.

"Thanks so much Logan!" I sarcastically called back to him.

"You're welcome!" He pressed the play button and the high pitched cartoon voices started up again.

"Shouldn't you be worried about him? He's the one watching some stupid cartoon!"

"He's in elementary school, and he's doing better in his science class than you are." My mother put her hands on her hips. I gave her an evil stare, showing how angry I was.

"Be ready by four, I'll drop you off." My dad handed a plate of food to me.

"I'll be in my room." I groaned and snatched the plate away. They really had to ruin my Saturday didn't they?

"They're so annoying!" I yelled into my cell phone while on a three-way call with Taylor and Kylie a few hours after my parents told me about the event I would be attending.

"First of all, whose they? And whoever they is, why are they annoying?" Taylor asked.

"My parents! Apparently I have some college meeting to go to with all these stupid stuck up people at some hotel in the afternoon. I have to dress fancy for the stupid thing."

"It's a meeting and you're dressing fancy?"

"I'm sorry, let me rephrase it to what my mom said 'it's a seminar and dinner'. Super." I rolled my eyes, looking through my closet to find some outfit to wear.

"So no night swim?" Kylie sighed.

"That would be a no for tonight."

"It doesn't sound to bad, Hale. It's for your future so you're lucky you're going to this! It'll prepare you." Taylor sounded ten times more happier than me.

"Well you sound like you would want to go to this, how about you take my place?"

"And you lie to your parents? Not happening."

"What about you Kylie, want to take my place?"

"Sorry Hayley, I'm good."

"Of course you are."

"So, what are you doing now?" Taylor wondered.

"Attempting to search through my closet for a pair of heels I won't kill myself in. Ugh I hate heels."

"Good luck trying to find something to wear. But I'm just hanging out in my room. What about you?"

"I'm on my way to meet Kendall at the beach. He set up a little picnic for us. How sweet?" She cooed. I could just picture her smiling to herself.

"That's adorable!" Kylie giggled.

"How cute." I smugly admitted. My door opened slowly, revealing my moms head poking through.

"Yes?"

"Hale, get off the phone! You need to get ready."

"Fine whatever." I said, and she left.

"Huh?" Both girls said.

"Don't worry about it. But I got to go; I'll talk to you guys later. Have fun at your little picnic and have your phones near by, your texts are going to save me."

"Ok. Good luck finding an outfit."

"Thanks, I'll need it." I sighed and hung up. I searched through my closet until I found a short-sleeved black dress that stopped a few inches above my knee. It would have to do. Once I changed into it, I slid on a pair of patent leather black pumps and put in a pair of diamond studs and a necklace. I redid my makeup and straightened my hair and finally walked downstairs with a cream colored clutch in my hands.

"Well don't you look pretty, now let's go, you're gonna be late." My dad got up from his seat and set his magazine down on the table.

"I feel disgusting. These heels are killing me." I groaned.

The car pulled up to a large and tall hotel way out of town. It took us about an hour to get to the place, and it just turned four fifteen.

"Great you're on time, I'll see you later honey, call me when you're done. I'll be in the area since I don't have to drive back and forth."

"Okay, bye." I got out and slammed the car door shut, angry that he was forcing me into attending this event. A valet boy greeted me and I just looked at him and nodded my head in hello and pursed my lips. Walking into the hotel was impressive; it was huge and expensive looking. A sign pointed me in the direction of the banquet halls the event was being attended in. Apparently, it was taking up two banquet halls. The first was for the actual meeting, and the second was for the dinner. Impressive. Whoever was hosting this event had to be filthy rich, booking two banquet rooms from a fancy hotel. The first room I walked into was huge, it was like a convention center. There were booths everywhere and a banner across the double doors saying 'Welcome'. Hundreds of people were walking around, looking a bit more fancy than me, but that didn't make me care. I checked in at a booth and they had given me a brochure. The woman at the booth had told me the meeting would be starting in ten minutes, so I probably should be heading over to the room now. While I walked in the hallway while switching rooms, I read the packet explaining what all this was about.

"Hayley?" A familiar voice said. I picked my head up from reading the packet and saw Stefan walking towards me. And just as I saw his face, my blood started to boil and I already could feel the anger burning inside me. What did he want? But what also was burning inside me was the question of what was he doing here? He wasn't the type to be at a convention-type thing like this.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. I closed my packet.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still surprised that he was standing right in front of me.

"I asked you first." I half smiled.

"How old are you? Ten?" I rolled my eyes and shut my packet all the way.

"I'm helping out my dad with the seminar, he's one of the speakers. He forced me to come along and listen. Boring, right?"

"Extreamly." I flatly said.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"My parents forced me into it. Not like I want to be here." I crossed my arms.

"I know what you mean." He sighed and then there was a short pause.

"Well, it's been awesome. Bye." I pursed my lips and walked away towards the meeting room.

A roar of clapping erupted in the room, concluding Grayson Montgomery's speech. I could see where Stefan got his jerky attitude- his father looked and sounded like a total snob. I would hate him to be my father.

"Now if you all would please go into the Charter Room next door and your dinner will be served to you in there." A woman dressed in a pencil skirt and a white blouse took the microphone. I got up from my seat, straightening out my dress, and walked out into the dinner hall. A menu was on every table so I decided take a look at what they would be serving. I picked up the framed menu and read it. Fennel arugula citrus salad, lobster with herb butter and a wine reduction sauce and a side of twice-baked potatoes, and key lime pie would be served. Not my type of food, at all. It all sounded absolutely gross. I walked out of the room and walked down another hallway trying to find my way out of this place until Stefan found me in the hallway once more.

"Dinners that way, you know?"

"Yeah, well nothing looks appetizing, a bit to fancy for me."

"As I figured I didn't see you inside my seminar, Stefan. You could have really learned something." Grayson Montgomery said, walking up to us in his fancy suit.

"Yeah, I know, dad."

"Why don't you make yourself useful and go up to the suite and get my notes for my speech later on in the night." His father didn't ask him, but he told him.

"I'm talking to someone."

"So unfortunate, but you'll have to excuse yourself." He patted his son on the back. The man left, with his hands in his pocket.

"Sorry about that." He took one hand out of his pocket and rubbed the back of his neck.

"And you're dad couldn't just go get his own notes?"

"He's important, I'm not, so that means I do his work."

"Wow, never thought I'd see the day when someone makes Stefan Montgomery unimportant." I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that's good old dad for you." He didn't even crack a smile. I was surprised at Stefan, usually he would come up with something to shoot back at me, but he didn't.

"Fair enough. I'll catch you later, I'm gonna go try to find at least something edible." I smiled.

"We have food upstairs, if you want" He paused "There was a bunch of extra desserts and appetizers my dad didn't want there so he got them sent upstairs. He'll never know some are gone, I doubt he cares. And if he does, who cares." He finished. I thought about it for a moment and smiled.

"Okay." And with that, we headed off to the elevator.

Walking into the presidential suite of a hotel is something I had never done before now. It was huge and beautiful. It was like having a house in a hotel. I popped a bite sized dessert into my mouth and enjoyed how sweet it was, whoever these caterers were, they were good. As I chewed on the delectable treat, I looked out the glass doors to see an incredible view.

"Presidential suite, impressive." I commented before finishing my treat and popping in another one.

"Yeah. Every time my dad books a seminar, they give him one. They like him a lot I guess, sort of impressive that they would give him this kind of stuff." He sorted papers in a folder.

"Eh, I guess." I shrugged and walked to the sliding glass doors. I opened one and let myself out onto the huge balcony and looked out. We had to be on at least the twentieth floor by now, so you could see for miles.

"Now _this_ is impressive. You can see for miles from here." I continued to walk out and once I noticed Stefan was still in the doorway, I turned around to him.

"Have you even seen this?"

"Yeah." He stuttered.

"Are you even looking?" I asked, noticing something was wrong. He was looking at the floor. He fidgeted with one of the papers in the folder.

"Whatever suit yourself." I shrugged and turned around. I heard him huff and take a step out onto the balcony. Then I heard a door slam and I immediately turned on my heels and saw the door shut. Stefan was trying to open it, but it wasn't budging.

"It's locked." He bit his lip.

"Are you serious? Of course this would happen. And with you of all people." I annoying said.

"Look, I'm just as upset that I'm here as you but could we just pretend like we can stand each other for a few minutes?"

"Whatever." I huffed and crossed my arms.

"I never should have come. All of this is stupid, and it's just a way for people like your dad to get money. A total scam."

"Yeah, I know it is, okay?" Stefan looked down at the ground once more. "Your dad's not gonna like that, you know?" I chuckled, watching Stefan crinkle up his dad's notes after reading them, and throwing them over the side. Then he stopped and ran a hand through his hair and walked the opposite direction of me. I could hear him breathing heavily, and for some reason he sounded like he was scared.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"No, I'm not. I never should have listened to you and I never should have come out here. Why did you even have to come out here!" He yelled.

"What? How is this my fault! I didn't tell you to walk out here with me, you did that all on your own." I yelled back.

"I just-I can't do this." He ran a finger through his hair and slid down onto the ground, propping up on the glass barrier that made sure no one fell over the edge.

"You can't do what? Wait…you're scared of heights aren't you? Don't worry, everyone's scared of something." I comforted. I realized after all that, that's why he didn't want to come out on the balcony.

"Yeah? What are you scared of?" He asked.

I bit my lip. "A lot of things. Now here, take my hand." I reached it out. He used it to stand back up and I started dragging him to the ledge.

"No, no, no, what are you doing?" He started to back away.

"Trust me." I simply answered.

"No, don't do this to me." He whined.

"Stefan, trust me. Now close your eyes." I said once we got to the ledge. Once he closed his eyes, I directed him on what to do.

"Now take a deep breath in and out, and open your eyes." And once he did, he looked just as scared as before.

"Look out there and pretend that it's something you love. Like one of your stupid speedboats. Now pretend the one of those is out there and you're watching it." I ordered and I watched his facial expressions change from absolutely terrified to being fine.

"Better?"

"Much. Thank you." He admitted."

"No problem." I smiled.

We both sat down on the floor and leaned against the ledge talking about our family.

"I felt like my dad was pretty bad for sometime, making me move and all, but I guess it wasn't that bad after all, I met some new people and made a few friends."

"That's nothing. Every year, my dad forgets my birthday and once he took me to Fiji."

"Oh, because Fiji is just so bad?"

"He left me there. All by myself! I was ten." He laughed.

"Oh my god! What did you do?"

"Caught a plane back by myself, he blamed me for me being left there. He never takes a blame." He shook his head.

"You won that one. What about your mom? Is she just as bad?"

"Uh, no, my mom left us when I was little. I don't blame her, I just wish she took me along."

"Why don't you go live with her?"

"I haven't seen or heard from her since I was six."

"I'm sorry." I immediately felt bad for asking.

"Don't worry about it. They always used to fight anyways. The man doesn't like a lot of people; I guess that's why she left. He doesn't even like me." He laughed.

"So I guess that's why you're such a jerk." I smirked and laughed.

"Oh, shut up." he rolled his eyes but a smile played on his lips.

"I understand what it's like for your parents to be fighting. For the past few years we've been having a lot of money troubles, and my parents are always fighting over it. They're not happy over any of it and I feel like if we just got more in, they would be happy again. My uncle's been loaning us money, but it still doesn't make up for it. Not everyone's rich. And truthfully, I didn't even want to come to this conference at first. But after I thought about it, I thought maybe it would be good for me since I probably should start learning about saving money and doing things with college. I want to learn more about it so I can be prepared, I don't want to end up like my parents." I admitted. I actually couldn't believe myself, I just told the guy I hated with a passion something I haven't even told Taylor and Kylie. Stefan grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"Trust me, money doesn't buy you happiness and it doesn't even change anything."

"There's a big difference between you and me, Stefan. I always thought you were so lucky and happy, just because you had money, because you could have anything you want."

"That's what everyone thinks of me, but until they really know me and they've met my dad, they figure out it's hell."

"I'm sure it's not that bad." I disagreed.

"At times it is, sometimes are better than others." He shrugged. Then, at that moment, for the first time in my life, I realized I had finally liked Stefan Montgomery as a person.

An hour and a half later, the sun was setting in the sky and it had begun to get cold. I was standing up, looking over the balcony when my body started to shiver and goose bumps appeared all over my arms.

"Do you want my jacket? You seem cold." He asked, taking off his suit jacket.

"No, it's fine." I lied.

"Hayley, I can see the goose bumps on your arm, take it." He insisted. He helped me put it on and then when I turned back around, we looked at each other and smiled. He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and then leaned in a little closer to me.

"What's wrong with you Stefan? Skipping my dinner, you don't even turn up to my seminar, making me look like an idiot in front of a crowd of seven hundred people and the hotel staff handed me there!" He showed us the crumpled balls of paper in his hands. Yes! At least we were free to get off the balcony, we both walked back inside the suite.

"I was trying to get someone's attention because not even you could tell that your son had gone M.I.A for more than thirty minutes just to do something that took five minutes! You couldn't even come up here to look for me! It's not my fault the door locked behind us!"

"Right, like you we're trying to get help. And by ruing my notes that took me hours to write! These doors don't lock Stefan; this is a high quality hotel! They don't lock people out of rooms."

"Why else would we be out there for hours!" I yelled at his father.

"And hanging out with this girl of all people? You should have chosen one with an actual future and one at the seminar." He huffed, and now I was offended. Stupid man.

"The girls name is Hayley! And if you paid enough attention, she was at your useless seminar! And she's smarter than any of the girls there! At least she knows your whole seminar is a scam for people to get money! These things are common sense to people, they don't need an idiot like you telling people what to do just because you're rich." Stefan yelled, I couldn't help but smile for two reasons—he stood up for me, and he stood up for himself. Stefan's father stood there silenced by his own son's words.

"Well, I'd like to say it was nice to meet you…but that would be a lie." I smiled to Grayson, and walked out of his hotel suite, grabbing my clutch on the way out. I immediately found the elevator and took it down to the first floor. Down in the lobby, I heard a voice calling my name so I immediately turned around on my heel and searched in the crowed.

"Hayley!" Stefan ran through the small crowd. He finally ran up to me, cupped his hands around my face, and kissed me. It lasted a few moments before he pulled away first.

"Would you mind if I have my jacket back?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"That's an interesting way of asking for it back." I held in my laugh, I took off the jacket and handed it back to him.

"I'll uh, call you tomorrow?"

"You do that." I replied and then he smiled, and then walked back to find the elevator. I started to walk to where I was dropped over four hours earlier until I stopped in my place—what did I just do?


	16. One Little Lying Mermaid

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

_**One Little Lying Mermaid**_

_**Chapter Song: Breathing Underwater by Marie Digby**_

Sleeping wasn't an option last night. As hard as I tried I just couldn't, it was physically impossible. I tried everything those sleep specialists would tell you: drink some hot milk, read a book, listen to ocean waves, take a bath, or drink a cup of tea. Nothing worked. I even tried counting sheep, but every time I did, a voice came up in my mind singing in a creepy tone 'one little lying mermaid, two little lying mermaids…' and so it goes. I never felt bad about lying and I wasn't going to start now. It was like I drank six cups of coffee right before bed, which I didn't. My brain hurt from all the thinking I was doing. There were only two things on my mind last night—Stefan, and the girls. For once in my life I was scared about what someone was going to say. They were absolutely, positively going to kill me. The night after the Kylie incident where she split water on herself, we all made a pact that we wouldn't get to close to anyone so that they would find out our secret. Taylor already had Kendall, so she was happy with herself. And Kylie and I were still single and alone. Well, at least they thought I was. The pact included not getting a boyfriend because it would just end up in a mess where he would find out, and probably tell everyone. And of course, the rule excluded Taylor. Stupid Kendall. Stupid Taylor. Stupid Stefan. Stupid me! This was my own stupidity. Stefan of all people! I hated him-we all hated him! The girls and Kendall still do. I couldn't believe I was admitting this but, I didn't. I liked him. If I said that a week ago, I'd probably wash my mouth out with soap…twice. After getting to know Stefan yesterday evening, it turned out that he was a total different person than I thought. He wasn't a jerk, he was nice, and I've never seen him act like that at school. That was the problem; the girls weren't going to believe that. When they found out, they were going to flip. But during my oh-so-fun night at four thirty in the morning while staring at my bedroom ceiling, I figured out my plan. It was pretty simple actually, I just wouldn't tell them and they wouldn't find out. Even though they were the people I was closest to and shared the biggest secret in the world with, I still had to hide this. There was also the alternative choice to break up with Stefan, which was probably my best bet. I'd do it eventually, and eventually was coming up fast and furious. I promised myself I'd give it one date with him, and then I would cut it off. It was perfect, right? The girls would never know and I wouldn't have to give up my secret to someone who would tell everyone. The problem was, I really liked Stefan. But then there's that big voice in the back of my mind saying 'danger, danger'. Whenever I'm near him, or let alone anyone, that's when I wasn't the biggest fan of my tail. Now, it was nearly hitting 7 AM and my eyes were drooping. They would close, open, and then blink a few times until they closed again.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" The voice of a child interrupted my dreams. I felt small, cold hands shaking my body. My eyes flashed open and in front of me stood Logan, who continued to shake me.

"Hands off!" I yelled.

"Finally!"

"What do you want?" I growled. Of course. I was about to fall asleep and Logan woke me up.

"I'm hungry. Make me lunch." Huh? Didn't he mean breakfast?

"What? Lunch? What time is it?"

"It's almost one." When Logan said that, I finally noticed that I did fall asleep, for six more hours. Man I sleep long!

"One? Oh my God." I immediately kicked off the covers and ran straight to my dresser to search for an outfit. Late last night, I promised Stefan I'd meet him at the beach at one.

"What's your deal?" Logan watched me. I pulled out a pair of jean shorts and a red and white striped tank top. I ran into the bathroom and changed in record time.

"I promised my boy—my friend I would meet him at the beach at one." I said, walking out of the bathroom.

"What about my lunch?

"Make it yourself."

"I don't know how!"

"Can't you put one of those frozen meals mom buys in the microwave?" In the midst of running around my room getting ready, Logan felt the need to continue on.

"That's gross! And besides, I want some dinosaur chicken nuggets." He smiled. Was he purposely annoying? I stopped brushing my hair and turned to my annoying brother.

"I'll pay you five bucks if you have cereal and don't burn the house."

"Ten and I'll tell mom you fed me."

"Just don't burn down the house," I pulled out a ten from my wallet and threw it at him, "Now get out of my room." I kicked him out and shut the door. Quickly, I threw on a pair of sneakers and put my phone into my pocket. Down in the kitchen, I quickly made sure Logan was still upstairs and I ran out the backdoor. As fast as I could, I ran past the pool and out onto the dock and then jumped off into the water.

Twelve minutes later on a secluded part of the beach, I pulled myself up behind a rock and steamed dried. I searched for the place Stefan was meeting up with me and eventually, I found him sitting in the sand.

"Hey." I said once I ran up to him.

"There you are." He smiled.

"Yeah, sorry I slept a little late." I rubbed the back of my neck. He got up from his place in the sand.

"It's good, want to go walk?"

"Sounds good to me."

It was almost annoying how normal Stefan was. He seemed down to earth, a total one eighty from how he acted with his friends during school. Where did the jerky arrogant Stefan go? It wasn't even like I could use the excuse that he was a jerk to break up with him because he wasn't! Every time I told myself that I couldn't break up with him, I remembered that I could never have a normal life with him. I couldn't go boating; water skiing, or swimming with him. Keeping my secret was more important, right? I could avoid doing activities near the water. Right. Okay.

"What was Washington like?"

"You and your random questions," I giggled, "Washington was Washington. It was cold almost all year round. Except the summers, summers were bearably warm. Downtown Spokane was nice. It was like a mini New York. That's where my apartment building was. Every night you could hear tons of people outside, it was weird coming here and hearing silence at night. There were mountains right outside of the city. I climbed a really small one once, it was pretty cool. There was this one really big river, and that was basically it. School there sucked, most of the people were cold. It snowed a ton in the winter there. I was so thankful to pack away all my boots and jackets. We always dreaded the winter."

"Wow, winters were that bad?"

"Terrible. Once, the power in my building went out, and there were two people in the building with a generator. So everyone had to split up among the two apartments and we were all stuffed in there."

"Wow, I've only been in snow a few times but I didn't know it was that bad."

"Really? Where have you seen snow?"

"My dad bought a house in Tahoe a few years ago. We go up there during winter and summer break. It snows a lot there. But I prefer staying in Florida."

"Same. I'm not averse to staying here anymore."

"Well, yeah because you found me." He laughed.

"You're unbelievable." I laughed, not bothering to fight off a smile. For the past two hours, we walked back and forth on the beach, drinking smoothies that Stefan offered to buy. We really weren't doing anything besides talking. It was so nice. A buzzing coming from my pocket, made me stop walking and take my phone out. Taylor was calling me. I looked at the screen for a few seconds before turning the phone off.

"You know you can get that, right?" Stefan pointed to the phone hidden in my pocket once again.

"It's fine, I'll call her later."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Listen, Stefan, we need to talk." I hesitated.

"That's usually how the break up talks start." He skeptically pursed his lips and crossed his arms.

"No, I'm not breaking up with you. But listen," I sat myself down on the sand, and so did he. That sealed it; I wasn't breaking up with him.

"I'm listening."

"We can't tell Taylor or Kylie about this. In fact, we can't tell anybody about this. At least not yet."

"Uh, okay, sure. Any specific reason?"

"Come on Stefan, we both know they don't like you. And right now if they figure out we're dating, they'd kill me. I don't need that drama right now. But I promise you, I'll tell them. And then we can tell everyone else."

"It's fine, take your time."

"Wow, that went better than I thought. Thanks."

"That's me, super nice and understanding Stefan." He winked.

"Don't get cocky." I nudged him.

"Come on, you love it."

"Of course I do." I sarcastically laughed. After a few more minutes of walking down the beach, Stefan stopped.

"Let's go take a swim. The water looks nice." He thought. Immediately, my mind started to think what I could come up with.

"I would, but I probably should get going. I left my little brother home alone, and if he hasn't burned down the house yet, it's a miracle."

"No worries have fun."

"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled, pushing a piece of hair back behind my ear. I turned around to walk away, but I was stopped.

"Eh, eh, eh, wait." Stefan pulled me back. He took hold of both of my hands and pulled me in for a kiss. I stood on my tiptoes to reach up to his level.

"Now you can go."

"That's cute, Stefan." I laughed, giving him one more kiss and running off towards home.

There was no rush going home. I was mostly daydreaming and thinking how cute my date with Stefan was. I felt like one of those annoying twelve-year-old girls who was so happy and giggly over a guy. I hated those girls. Opening the door to my house, I stepped in and smelled the air. It didn't smell like smoke, or fire, or food.

"Logan, I'm home. I see you didn't burn the house down, way to go." I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water, but stopped in the door way.

"What are you guys doing here?" I suspiciously looked at Taylor and Kylie sitting at the kitchen table.

"Waiting for you."

"How'd you get in the house?"

"Logan."

"You haven't returned any of our calls. So we came here to ask you if you wanted to go swimming, but Logan said something about you going out with a friend to the beach."

"I said that as a cover up. I was taking a swim." I said a little quieter, not wanting Logan to hear.

"He said you were in a rush this morning."

"Yeah, to make it believable."

"And you're okay since last night?"

"Yeah, perfectly fine."

"How was the college thing?"

"It was terribly boring." I rolled my eyes. They both looked to each other and shrugged.

"Up for another swim?"

"Sure." I said, walking out the back door with them. This was a piece of cake; they were never going to find out. I could keep my own secrets and hide them perfectly fine.

**A/N: Sorry this took so long to update! I'll be updating much faster for now on. **


	17. Standing Up

**A/N: Wow, I haven't updated in forever, and I didn't even realize it until today. So here we go! 3,940 words. I hope you enjoy it guys 3 By the way, have any of you seen Claire Holt as 'Rebekah' on The Vampire Diaries and Phoebe Tonkin as 'Faye' on The Secret Circle? Those shows have me hooked! And they are back to back so it's weird seeing my h2o girls back together on two Kevin Wiliamson shows. Now all I'm thinking about is 'Where's Cariba!' I haven't heard that she's in anything on a US show or even an Aussie show. She needs to get back in the business. And they need to make more h2o! Because I've been watching all the episodes again and I miss it. SO MUCH. Anyways, here ya go! Enjoy and review!**

_Chapter Seventeen_

_Standing Up_

_Chapter Song: Feel It Too by Kate Alexa_

Two weeks and one full moon later, nothing was out of sorts. Nothing had been figured out, everything was just the way it was supposed to be. Like right now for instance. Stefan and I were casually walking along the beach, holding hands. The beach was where we'd been spending most of our time together the past two weeks. In fact, we've basically have been here every day. Besides the full moon, I'd hung out with the girls one or two other times. Thankfully I was good at making excuses every time they wanted to hang out. I'd started to overuse the 'grounded' excuse so I switched it up saying that I had 'tutoring' or 'way to much homework'. Some days I would go swimming with them after school, but then I'd use another excuse to just go meet Stefan at the beach. Very much to my surprise, they believed me. Stefan stopped in his tracks and pulled me over to him.

"Hale." He said.

"What?"

"What's up? All week you've seemed distant."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry. There are just a lot of things going on right now."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Yes Stefan, I'd love to tell you I'm a mermaid and so are my two friends, but I can't because you'd probably tell the world.

"No, it's just family stuff. It'll get worked out."

"Okay. Well, if you ever need to talk about it, you know that I'm here, right?" He wrapped his arms around me.

"Yes, and you're the best for that." I half heartedly smiled.

"Good. Now, I want you to have some fun." He said. Before I knew it. He bent down, and picked me up bridal style, carrying me over to the ocean. I gasped and I went into panic mode.

"No, no, no, Stefan no." I panicked, the water washed up to his ankles.

"Come on, let's go swimming."

"No, no, Stefan not today. I promise you soon, but just not today." I bit my lip, realizing I made a promise I couldn't keep. He walked back and set me on dry land.

"You always say that! Whether it's going swimming or going on my boat."

"Well, I just don't want to." I simply shrugged it off.

"It's like, you're just being so secretive about it. Give me one good reason why." He ordered.

"I get sea sick, really easily. And I don't like swimming so much. Not really my thing." I lied. I was on a roll today, wasn't I?

"Do you have some fear of water or something?"

"Something like that." I mumbled.

"What?"

"No, of course not." I said. Stefan sighed.

"Okay whatever, well, let's just go do something else."

Sitting inside a dimly lit and coolly air conditioned Italian restaurant, Stefan and I waited for our waiter to come back with Stefan's credit card. Even with offering to pay for my dinner, Stefan, being the overly rich and generous boy that he is, still paid for me. Don't get me wrong, I was totally okay with that.

"Thank you and have a nice day." The waiter dressed in all white handed us back the black check presenter. Stefan slid the shiny blue plastic card back into his wallet. Getting up from the table, we walked down to the front doors, which were overly crowded with lines of dozens of couples and families waiting for a table and meal of their own.

"Thank you for dinner." I smiled, thanking Stefan for the third time this evening. Stefan wrapped his arm around me and pulled me to his side.

"You know, you don't have to thank me."

"Well I want to." I smiled widely. But it soon fell when I saw two blonde girls in front of me staring directly at me.

"Oh no." was my first reaction.

"Hayley?" Kylie was the first one to talk. "Stefan?" She looked up to him.

"H-hey guys." I stuttered. Realizing Stefan's arms were still around me I pushed them away.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"We were going to go get a bite and see if you wanted to come, but it looks like you already had dinner. Come on Taylor, let's go." Kylie looked at me disappointed and irritated. Taylor looked upset.

"No, wait, guys!" I called after them but they were walking away towards the beach. I knew exactly where they were going. I ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated.

"Go find your friends, I'll talk to you later." Stefan sweetly said.

"Thanks." I gave him a quick goodbye kiss and then ran off to go explain to the girls what happened, even if that meant swimming all the way to Bristol.

My head popped up against the surface of the water in the moon pool and I saw Taylor and Kylie standing up. They stopped talking once they realized that I was there.

"Really guys, can you please let me explain?"

"So you're denying that you're going out with him?"

"No! I'm not denying it. I was going to tell you, I was. I just was trying to find the right time to."

"Friends don't keep secrets like that." Taylor said.

"Well I had to, you guys wouldn't have accepted it."

"And you're right! We don't. How long has it been?" Kylie asked.

"A few weeks. I don't see what all the fuss about this is about."

"The problem is that you kept this from us and we're going to get exposed!"

"No we're not."

"Remember that time you saved him from a shark attack? He started telling all his friends about how the water started 'magically bubbling'?" Kylie put air quotes around her words.

"Yeah, that's—"

"He still talks about that sometimes, I've heard him and Cameron discussing it."

"Because Cameron's still making fun of him since he's a first class jerk."

"And so is Stefan."

"But he's not. You're underestimating Stefan. He acts like a jerk to keep people away, he's got a lot of family issues so he hides it by acting like that."

"He'd still do anything for attention and popularity. And if it means exposing us, he'll do it in a blink of an eye. You're stupid for going out with him."

"So now I'm stupid?"

"No, that's not what we're saying. We've all had to make sacrifices, that includes you."

"Why are you interfering with this? Can't you guys trust me?" I crossed my arms and placed them on the rock step of the moon pool.

"It's Stefan we don't trust. You have to make the decision."

"Between you two and Stefan? You're kidding me."

"We cant let Stefan find out about us, Hayley." Taylor stepped in.

"Don't make me do this. This is selfish."

"What's selfish is that you're putting yourself and your friends in danger." Kylie sternly said.

"Friends? Friends don't' give other friends ultimatums." I shook my head in disappointment and swam out of the Moon Pool.

Two days later, I could be found sitting on the warm sand of the beach. I've been ignoring Taylor and Kylie, and they've been ignoring me. But let them ignore me, three can play at this game. I couldn't believe that they blew up at me for dating Stefan. I could see where they were coming from with how he wasn't good news for us, but I had it under control! I had it under control, right? Yeah, I did. Of course I did. Stefan was my boyfriend, and even with him being my boyfriend, he wasn't going to find out about us and he wasn't going to expose anyone. So why couldn't my so-called friends stop worrying and leave it to me to handle him.

"Hey." Stefan's voice came up behind me. He took a seat next to me on the sand and pecked a kiss on my cheek.

"Hey." I didn't even look at him.

"Any word from them?"

"Nope. And I'm not expecting one either."

"And all because you were just waiting to tell them about us?"

"Yeah. They got annoyed. But they're my friends, they should understand."

"I agree."

"Anyways, let's move onto something a little bit better right now. What's up?" I asked.

"Do you think you're in the mood to go to lunch right now?"

"Yeah, sure. Where do you wanna go?

"Well, that's not technically what I mean. My dads having some business luncheon with a new guy and his family he wants to partner up with. I don't know, it's the usual crap my dad does. But he's forcing me to come and he wanted me to bring someone."

"I'm sure he doesn't mean me. If you didn't realize, we got off on a bad note."

"It's not like he said not to bring you."

"True…" I thought.

"So let's go!" Stefan got up and grabbed me, dragging him with him.

He made me change. Stefan made me change into fancier clothes to impress his dad. That's all I felt was important to him sometimes. How could he impress his dad the most today, that's all he thought about. Well, at least in my mind that was mostly what he thought about. After running into my room and changing into a high waisted skirt, white tank top, and patent leather pumps, I ran back into Stefan's range rover and we drove off to Stefan's mansion. We were late to the luncheon and I could tell Stefan was nervous over it. Once we got there, he parked his car right next to his dads BMW and we quickly walked into the mansion. Stefan directed me to come upstairs with him so I wasn't seen by his dad before he was. His room was huge, it was like the size of my living room. Stefan searched his closet and pulled out black dress pants and a dark red dress shirt. He ran to the bathroom, changed and in no time was back in his room with me. He threw on some dress shoes and then we made our way downstairs, like being late was fashionable. Once we were outside, we had to go down another flight of stairs to get the backyard patio, which looked out upon the intercostals. The swimming pool was a brilliant blue and sparkling, I almost wished that I could jump in. It looked so refreshing.

"It's amazing what you can do with a vision and a bulldozer." Grayson Montgomery laughed. Seven people surrounded him. His arm was wrapped around a young blonde woman's, who Stefan said was his girlfriend. There was an Asian family, two parents and a little girl who looked about the age of six. Next to them was two parents and Kylie. Wait, Kylie!

"Oh my God." I almost stopped in my place.

"What?" Stefan asked.

"Kylie's here? Why didn't you tell me she was coming?"

"Kylie's here? My dad just told me it was a family, he didn't specify who." He whispered.

"Oh look! Stefan, nice of you to finally join us." His father finally noticed us once we stepped off the stairs.

"And Hallie! Nice to see you again." He lied.

"It's Hayley." I correct.

"Of course it is. Now since everyone's here, why don't we all sit down and get to it?" Grayson suggested and walked over to the beautiful long table setting placed under a tall, white, canopy.

"What are you doing here?" Kylie whispered to me.

"I was just going to ask you the same thing." I plainly said.

"Now all of you tell me. Would you jump at the chance to buy beach real estate?" Grayson asked the table. The adults all agreed, nodding their heads and liking the idea.

"That's the point of why we have so many tourists here." Lisa, Kylie's mother, laughed.

"As Neil here can tell you, it's all about location. But since most of the land here is taken up by hotels and resorts, I thought of the idea of having a resort on it's own private island." Greyson explained. I picked up my wine class filled with water and took a sip.

"Where would this place be if you don't mind me asking?" Kylie interrupted.

"Bristol Island." Grayson revealed the second I swallowed my water, but then I started coughing from swallowing it the wrong way. All eyes turned to me and I quickly shut up.

"I'll be right back." I quickly eyed Kylie.

"I'll make sure she's okay." She said and we got up from the table. We pretended to go to the bathroom right across from the pool and I turned to her in panic.

"Today Bristol Island, tomorrow, Royal Sands Resort!" My boyfriend's father excitedly said in his loud voice.

"What are we going to do." I whispered.

"I don't know but we can't let this happen." She bit her lip.

"Obviously. Okay can we please put aside our differences about Stefan for about two seconds and figure this out, as a team?" I wondered.

"Friends?" She arched her brows.

"Friends." I smiled and gave her a hug. "Okay, now let's stop this before Grayson stops Bristol." I said and we went back to the table.

"Two 18 hole golf courses, four swimming pools, white sand beaches, a hotel, villas, an airport, marina, and shops. It's the future!"

"That's quite an idea." The Asian father praised, looking at the map Grayson drew up.

"Quite an idea indeed. I'm going to take a useless rock and turn it into a luxury destination."

"Bristols not a useless rock." I interjected.

"I agree." Kylie shrugged.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea. There are things out there." Stefan put his hands in his pocket.

"Thank you, Stefan." His father glared daggers at him, mentally telling his son to shut up.

"No, Stefan, I want to hear what you have to say." The Asian man recognized Grayson's tone.

"I don't know, but there are things out there. Creatures. One of them saved me, I was being attacked by a shark and then the water started bubbling and was boiling—"

"Stefan that's enough." His father gritted through his teeth.

"I know it sounds a bit out there, but it's true. I swear. You believe me, right Hale?" He turned to me. Kylie was staring at me, along with the rest of the table.

"Um, yeah." I fidgeted with the end of my skirt nervously.

"Daddy, is there sea '_cweatures'_ at '_Bwistow Iwand'_?" The little girls who sat on the table clutching her stuffed animal whined.

"Stefan, enough with the jokes." Grayson waved off.

"We have to have costal reserves." Kylie looked from her mom to her dad.

"Well, I'm sure we could say a bit of natural forests." Her dad looked to Grayson.

"Nonsense. No need for any of that. That's what the everglades are for. My vision is for the west side of the island to be apartments and villas, the east side to be the shops, the north to be all the pools, marinas, and golf courses, and the south side to be the hotel. It'll be magnificent, and such a moneymaker. It'll be transformed."

"How ugly." I simply commented. Stefan looked at me like I was crazy for opening my mouth. Well, maybe if he knew what I was and where it happened, he'd be defending it too.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is this your idea of good design?"

"Feedback is always important, that's what got me to where I am today. Even from people who wont be able to afford a place as nice as this." He smirked. Oh, that was it. It was on. I was not going to be called poor from some stuck up rich man.

"Dad." Stefan looked at him, offended.

"And what makes you think I would want to live there? Wrecking nature for just another resort out of the hundreds we already have here. Could you enjoy a holiday or living somewhere were hundreds of rare species used to live, until you killed them? Or were you just thinking they were all going to pack up and swim thirty three miles to shore?"

"Daddy, you're not going to kill the _aminals_, are you?" The little girl looked scared.

"Of course not Emily." The father gulped.

"I agree with Hayley." Kylie walked over to where I was. "Bristol Island has been untouched for thousands of years, your stupid ideas can't come and destroy it." Kylie crossed her arms over her chest. _Way to go, Kylie,_ I thought.

"Kylie has a valid point, dear." Lisa added.

"It's wrong, greedy, and stupid. Since the island is surrounded by Mako Sharks, which are rare and endangered, where do you think they will go? I'd love to see you get sued for some poor person getting bit for just standing in the water. And what about the dolphins? The turtles? The rare coral?"

"Mommy, is daddy going to hurt the dolphins and turtles?" Emily tugged on her mothers sleeve.

"No, honey. I'm starting to not like the idea of this either." The mother looked to Grayson.

"And I didn't like it from the beginning." Stefan stood up. I smiled, finally he was standing up to his dad!

"Stefan, sit down." His father ordered.

"No dad, I won't. Listen here, I'm sure the protection agency wouldn't like to here about this dad, and if you continue with this plan, I'll make a petition for it to be banned."

"So will I." I supported.

"Me too." Kylie smirked.

"Stefan that's enough!"

"Nah, you just don't get it." He laughed.

"Wow, I never thought that I would be turned off to this idea, but I have. I'm sorry Grayson, but I won't be lending you the funding for this project. I can see how important nature is to these girls, and the rare animals that live there." The Asian man put his napkin on the table and stood up. So did his family.

"If it's this important to my girl, then I agree." Neil assented. Kylie and I looked at each other with a smile.

"I'm proud of you for finally standing up to your dad, and not going along with his stupid ideas." I said, giving Stefan a hug.

"Come on, let's get out of here." He dragged me off to his car once again.

"I'm feeling incredibly great. I've never felt like this." Stefan smiled. In one hand, I held Stefan's and in the other, I held my shoes by the straps. We were walking along the beach and Stefan couldn't get over how he acted.

"What if he cuts your money?"

"At this point, I don't care! I'll get a job if I have to, sell my car! Anything."

"I love this new and improved you." I laughed.

"It just felt so good to stand up to him! I've never done that in my life! Not even when he didn't come to my fifth grade graduation! I just, thank you."

"Thank you? For what?"

"For standing up to my dad and for saying that you did."

"You don't have to thank me. I was just going to say what I thought about it. I've been to Bristol before and I'd hate to see it destroyed. It's beautiful."

"It is special. I loved what you had to say. And thank you for believing in me. Believing in me about the thing that happened at Bristol with that sea creature and for making me not feel like an idiot." He embraced me, then swung me around in his arms.

Later that afternoon, I made my way over to Taylors. I felt like we all needed to have a talk. While walking to her door, I could hear Kendall talking.

"Knock, knock." I opened the closed door.

"Hayley! I heard you started a sabotage of Grayson's plan to develop Bristol."

"It was a mix of me, Kylie, and Stefan. No need to thank." I took a seat on her bed.

"How amazing did it feel to stand up to him? Kylie said it was awesome."

"Wait- this is weird. Aren't you forgetting to tell me how I should choose you guys over Stefan and how Stefan's a bad mistake? Or maybe what color bra I'm wearing?" I asked.

"Just out of curiosity, what color?" Kendall asked.

"Kendall!" Taylor barked.

"Hayley, I'm sorry I jumped at you. And underestimated Stefan. He's actually much better of a guy than I thought. And any guy that's a friend of you, is a friend of me." Kylie admitted.

"Same." Taylor apologized.

"You're forgiven. And I'm sorry I kept it from you guys. I should have came out and told you the second we started dating."

"I still can't see that. Weren't you guys sworn enemies? How did this even happen!" Kendall exclaimed. I turned around, grabbed one of Taylor's decorative pillows, and threw it at him.

"Hey!" He cried. All three of us laughed.


	18. Broken

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Well anyways, happy belated Halloween and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for the reviews (positive or not!) Really appreciated. Enjoy! Xx – Elena**

_Chapter Eighteen:_

_Broken_

_Chapter Song: Disaster by JoJo_

A pile of undone homework sat in front of me, knowing that F's would be following if I didn't work through at least half of it. So for the past hour, I've been trying to get up enough strength to do it, but somehow everything else in that hour seemed more interesting than homework. There was English– boring, history–boring, chemistry– double boring, and math– totally boring. Even watching grass grow was more interesting than this! Beside me, my phone began to light up and buzz. Finally, a distraction.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey." Stefan greeted.

"You're interrupting my serious study time. What's up?" I sarcastically commented.

"Oh please, you and studying? That never happens."

"I've been sitting here for an hour looking at the books. Nothing." I sighed.

"Anyways, I'm going out on the boat. I'm positive I know the answer but here's a shot at it. Want to come?"

"I'm on little brother patrol, I can't. And besides, if I don't do this homework, I'll be flunking out of school."

"Fine, fine, enjoy your little study session."

"Oh, I'll try. Have fun on the boat."

"Come over after?"

"Give me a time."

"Four?"

"See you then." I hung up. Truth was, I didn't have Logan patrol this morning, I just had 'make-sure-Stefan-doesn't-find-out' patrol. And as always, I rejected his asking for me to come with him places. I needed to get out of the house. I was so bored. Pushing my books aside, I walked up to my room and slid on a pair of shorts and a tank top since it was blistering hot out. From there, I stuffed my phone and money in my pocket and walked myself over to the Coral Island Café.

I gazed around the café as I walked in. It was busy as usual. I spotted Cassie Bianichi and her clan of plastic Barbie girlfriends whispering as I walked by. Looking at them, for the split second I did, made me feel 10 IQ points dumber. Then, taking my eyes away from the pink Barbie cult, I noticed Taylor sitting in one of the booths reading a Chemistry textbook.

"Fancy meeting you here." I joked, walking up to her.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Taylor ripped her face away from the book for two seconds to look up at me.

"Needed a break from my productive day of non-studying. Whatchya' doing?" I took a seat across from the blonde.

"Studying for our chemistry test on Wednesday, and doing the homework he assigned us. It's all to much." She sighed, flipping to another page.

"You know what's a good idea?" I started, Taylor looked up to me with curiosity in her blue eyes, "a study session, with you teaching me since I've got a C minus in the class. Yeah, that sounds pretty good." I agreed with myself.

"But—" She began to protest.

"I'm getting a drink, be right back." I smiled to my studious friend. She opened her mouth to say something, but went back to plastering her face in the book.

"One whole wheat panini and a latte with three Splenda's." Cassie was in front of me and was paying the cashier his money.

"Keep the change." She winked, playing with the teenaged boys feelings. She turned around looked at me and walked past me. Rolling my eyes, I tried not making a face at the smell of her heavily sweet scented perfume that she loaded on previously.

"One lemonade slushie." I ordered. The boy ringed it up to the cash register and I handed him the money. He quickly blended up my order and handed it to me. Nonchalantly, I walked back to the table and took my seat

"Where's Kylie?" I wondered, noticing she hadn't been here."

"She left right before you came to go for a swim."

"Well, it's the perfect day for one. It must be one of the hottest days of the year."

"It gets like this a lot. Some days can be cold the others you could be dying of a heat stroke. The thermometer outside said it was in the mid nineties." Wonderful, I thought. Taylor and I proceeded to go over the Chem book and make attempts to study as boring as this was.

Time decided to pass quickly and an hour and a half later, Taylor and I were turning pages of the Chemistry book, not so intrigued by what it was saying. This was an all time record for me, I've never gone so long studying before. Even with the noise of the TV, the grinding of blenders, and the the giggles from the plastics, I still was able to concentrate enough for Taylor to teach me. But with my head being in the book for those long ninety minutes, I failed to notice that the bright blue sky had grown darker and darker and there were slight rumbles of thunder off in the distance that were creeping closer.

"Oh, that's not looking to good. Perhaps you all might want to get home before it starts." Wilfred, owner of the café said. My eyes traveled to the TV screen that was showing the weather report. Both Wilfred and Cassie, who was standing at the pick up counter getting a napkin, had their heads tilted up to look at it. I paid no attention to it and went back to the book.

"A storm?" The popular piped up. My head popped up when I heard those words. "Here? But it's fall." Her obnoxious voice continued.

"Yup. Looks like it's gonna be a big one too." He said, fixing his floral button down shirt. The middle-aged man walked over and opened the shutters, looking out the window. "In fact, it looks like it's already here." He noticed. He made his way over to the front doors and closed it.

"Oh no. I saw Stefan get on his boat! He's out there!" I asked him where he was going but, ugh, I wasn't listening and I don't even think he told me!" Taylor looked up to me; now hearing about the storm took her out of her daze. I had completely forgotten, Stefan was out there on his small boat, which was mostly made of metal. He was traveling in the ocean at this very second, and he would attract every lightning bolt that came down!

"You wouldn't want to be caught in the middle of that. Perhaps I should call the coast guard." Wilfred grabbed the portable phone. Suddenly, there was a bright flash and a loud crack of thunder. It silenced the whole room. Wilfred put the phone to his ear.

"These Florida storms, they come in an instant." Wilfred sighed. "Hi, hello? Yes…" he started the conversation with the other end of the phone.

"Kylie's out there." Taylor bit her lip.

"She's smart, she'll go to the moon pool and be safe. But Stefan's on his boat somewhere and he's in trouble." Before I could get out of my seat, rain pattered on the windows and then as quick as it came, the rain came down in sheets in a matter of seconds. How would I get out there without turning into a mermaid on the lawn? A sense of dread filled me, this wasn't going to turn out good. I had to save Stefan.

"I'll call Kylie." Taylor pulled out her phone and dialed our friend. It went straight to voicemail so Taylor hung up.

"I can't just sit here while Stefan's in trouble." I groaned.

"Well you can't run outside either." She reasoned. I bit my lip and tried to think of a plan. Taylors phone began to ring and she picked it up.

"Hello?" She anxiously answered her cell phone.

"No Kendall, I'm at the café with Hayley. But Kylie's out for a swim. We're hoping she'll go to Bristol though. But problem is, Stefan's out there on his boat. Hayley's freaking out." She paused and waited for him to stop talking. "Okay, be careful." She nodded and hung up.

"He's gonna come here, but he's waiting for the storm to lighten up. It's pretty bad by him." She explained. I ignored everything she said. Tapping my nails against the table, I anxiously tried to figure out what to do.

"Taylor, I've got to go find Stefan." I got up from the seat, she grabbed my hand and pulled me back.

"No! This is dangerous! And he'll find out." She whispered the last part.

"I'd rather him find out than him being dead." I shook my head, yanking my hand away from her. Looking out the glass door, I could barely see two feet in front of it on the outside. The rain was so heavy there was little visibility. Thankfully, I've run and jumped off that dock so many times I could run there in my sleep. If I could run fast enough, I could get there in maybe ten seconds. It was a big risk. But, there was no maybe, I had to get from the café to the ocean in ten seconds. A marathon runner couldn't even do this. Bravely taking a deep breath in, I opened the door and ran outside. I didn't give myself much time to think, but I ran counting the seconds in my head. I couldn't feel the first drop of rain hit my skin, it was like a bucket of water continuously being poured on me. It soaked my clothes, skin, and hair. I could feel the transformation start and I only had two seconds left. I was already on the dock, I was just running to the end. With half a second left, I jumped off the wooden dock and was submerged in the warm intercostal water. Even from below, I could see the lightning strike as the water turned white every time it did.

I searched all the spots he liked to stop while boating. He was nowhere to be found. Looking high and low, I still wasn't going to give up on him. He had to be somewhere here. I sped my way over to a mile off the coast of Bristol when I found his boat half submerged in the water. Forgetting about hiding my secret, I broke the surface right next to the boat. He wasn't there, but that for sure was his zodiac.

"Stefan!" I yelled. The only thing answering me back was the sound of the rain. A large wave crashed over me and forced me back underwater. I came back up again and coughed out the water from my mouth. He wasn't here. Swimming in through the entrance of the moon pool, I called for Kylie.

"Kylie? Stefan?" My voice bounced off the walls. No answer. Thankfully, the opening at the top of the volcano didn't allow much water to come in, so I easily dried myself off once I got on dry sand. Being cautious, I made myself stay in the corner of the cave so no water could hit me. I wrapped my hands around my legs and curled myself up. I felt ten times worse than I did before. My best friend and my boyfriend was missing. What I didn't get was, Kylie was smart, and she knew to come here during a storm. Where was she? And if Stefan wasn't with his boat, where was he?

The storm had passed eventually. Even though it ceased after less than an hour, it felt like an eternity. The sun had come out again and it was like the storm never happened, minus all the trees that I could predicted that fell down do to the tropical storm like winds. I was sitting here in the Moon Pool silently hoping that Kylie or Zane's head would just pop up in the pool and say 'I'm alive', but it wasn't going to happen. The buzzing in my pocket took me out of my day dream and I answered the phone.

"I know it's—" I began to talk to who I thought was Taylor but soon I was cut off.

"Hayley…" Kylie's voice strained.

"Thank god. Where are you? I've been looking everywhere for you and Stefan. He was out on his boat during the storm and I can't find him anywhere. You've got to help me."

"I already found him." She said, hesitation in her voice.

"What?" I paused.

"I'm at the front of Bristol with him right now." Why did she sound so nervous? He wasn't dead, right?

"I'll be there in a second, I'm in the Moon Pool." I hung up and jumped into the water. What if he was dead? What if he was severely hurt? The negative questions flooded my mind and I got more nervous by the second. I pulled myself up on the side of Bristols beach, and far down I could see two figures. One lying in the sand, the other pacing. Quickly, I dried myself off and ran over to them. Stefan was soaking wet and passed out on the sand while Kylie continued to pace until she saw me.

"What the…" I couldn't finish my sentence. Stefan had a cut on his head and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"I was swimming and I saw him get thrown off his boat. He hit his head on the way down and started bleeding. I went to help him, and well, he saw me. He got stuck to a rope and couldn't get free. I took him here and he passed out." Kylie explained.

"So he knows."

"Only about me. If he asks if there's more, I'll deny it."

"Fine. I can't have him knowing just yet." I nodded. All of the sudden, Stefan woke up and began furiously coughing. He sat up then after he stopped, he saw us.

"Hayley? What—"

"She called me and said she found you." I explained, that brought back memories for Stefan.

"What the hell! You're a mermaid!" He yelled.

"Don't scream it!" She hushed him.

"But-you've got a tail and you—huh? How is this possible?" He looked to me. I just shrugged, pretending not to know.

"I don't know, I just woke up one day and I was like this." She lied. Stefan turned to me.

"Did you know about this?" He asked. I nodded my head.

"This is insane. Is there more of you?" He turned to Kylie. I looked at her and bit my lip nervous for what she was going to say.

"No, it's only me." I let out a silent breath of relief.

"I can't believe this," he stood up, "mermaids of all things."

"I know, it's pretty hard to believe." Kylie nodded. I kept silent for the rest of the convorsation until Stefan asked me something.

"How'd you get here?" He wondered.

"I-I-" I didn't have a boat here? What should I say?

"Kendall dropped her off." Kylie said, "he's coming back for you guys. He just had to get gas. He was almost out and the boat could have run down." Good save Kylie, now where would we find Kendall with his boat now? My phone rang from a text and I opened it. It was a text from Kendall.

_Kylie texted me what happened. I'm on my way. _

It was a week since the accident and there hadn't been any more storms like that. After school the previous Monday, there was a little rain shower, but it dissipated in fifteen minutes. Now it was Sunday once again, and I was walking on the beach with Stefan.

"How do you think it is to swim underwater for that long?" Stefan asked. That was it, he was asking hundreds of questions about Kylie and her being a mermaid and it was pissing me off.

"I don't know, fun I guess."

"How'd you find out?" He wondered.

"Stop!" I stopped in my place and Stefan confusingly looked at me.

"What?"

"Just stop."

"But I just wanted to know more about it."

"Then stop questioning everything!"

"But—"

"But nothing!"

"Is it such a crime that I want to get to know my girlfriend and her friends?"

"Not anymore." I shook my head running a hand through my hair. If I was going to be Stefan's girlfriend I couldn't have him asking mermaid and Kylie questions 24/7. It was getting me sick.

"What?"

"We're done." I hated those words, but they had to be said.

"What? No! Why?"

"Ever since you've found out it's Kylie this and Kylie that. If you're so in love with Kylie then go date her."

"I'm not in love with her! I just wanted to know about her mermaid side. It's just so incredible."

"Then get it from her because I don't know a thing." I shook my head and walked away. Stefan grabbed my arm.

"Hayley, wait."

"I'm sorry, Stefan but I can't do this." I looked at him for a second before I walked up the beach and towards my house. I was holding back tears because it hurt. Near my house next to one of the sidewalks was the intercostals'. Looking both ways before I walked over to it, I made sure that there weren't any people watching. I dove off of the sidewalk and landed in the water, heading all the way to Bristol.


	19. Disclosed

**A/N: Okay, so tried uploading this yesterday, but it wasn't'working. Lets try this again. Take two. Hi guys! I've been planning this chapter ever since I began this story. I hope you love it so, so much. And if you don't, well thanks for reading it anyways! Yay, I can't believe I finally get to post this. Thank you all so much for your reviews :] You're the best. I hope you love this chapter as much as I loved writing it! Next one should be up pretty quick if you review enough times ;] Love you guys!**

_Chapter Nineteen:_

_Disclose_

_Chapter Song: All At Once by The Fray_

My eyes inched open to find myself alone in Kylie's room. Her bed was made, and the air mattress next to mine was empty. Last night was a full moon, and as usual, we had our monthly sleepovers. Kylie's alarm clock blinked, changing itself to 10:45 AM. The moon had set and the sun was shining through the windows, which weren't covered anymore. Skeptically, I got out of the mattress placed on the floor and looked out the windows. Her parent's cars were gone, and the house seemed pretty peaceful. Did they get moonstruck? Quickly, I went into the hallway and stopped to see if I could hear them. Thankfully, I did, and I smelled something delicious too.

"What goes on? Something smells good." I greeted them when I walked into the kitchen.

"Ah, look whose awake. We thought you died, you're a heavy sleeper.'

"I was beginning to think the moon got you guys, I woke up and you weren't there."

"We got up an hour ago, come on sleepy head. Anyways, I'm making eggs, want some?"

"Correction, she's trying to make eggs." Taylor smiled.

"Sure, why not." I walked over to the pantry and grabbed a couple of pieces of bread. Placing them in the toaster, I leaned my body against the counter and silently drifted into my own thought. The bing of the toaster brought me out of my day dream. Quickly I picked up the burning pieces of bread and plopped them on the plate. I walked over to the table and sat myself down next to Taylor, who was glancing at her phone.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" I asked, spreading butter on a piece of toast. Kylie piled the eggs into a plate and shut the oven off.

"I don't know, Taylor?" Kylie sat down with the large plate of eggs. I grabbed some and shoved them onto my plate.

"Got me," she shrugged, "I'm going out with Kendall at two, so whatever it is, let's do it quick."

"Aw, how cute, making time for us in with the busy schedule of the boyfriend." Kylie sarcastically smiled. Quietly, I sighed and looked down to my plate, pushing the eggs around. I wasn't so hungry anymore. Kylie triggered the word that drove me crazy. Boyfriend. I told them I had broken up with Stefan a day later, they felt bad, especially Kylie. She felt like it was her fault. It kind of was, but she did end up saving his life after all. I'd rather have him alive then me being with him and him being dead. But truth was, I hadn't stopped thinking about Stefan since I broke up with him. He'd call me five or six times a day, then he gave up two days ago. I missed his voice, and I missed him. Never in my life have I felt so non-independent. I've never missed someone like I've missed him, not a soul. I wanted to tell him my secret since he already knew about Kylie, but I kept fighting myself and telling my heart that I could never do that. I saw how he reacted with Kylie, asking the thousands of questions, I couldn't let him be that way with me. He couldn't only like my mermaid side; I wouldn't let him do that. And what if we got in a fight and he decided to tell someone, someone meaning the world? Stefan could have a temper and persistent attitude very much like his father, he would do whatever felt right at the moment, even if that meant putting me in harms way.

"Hale, are they that bad?" Kylie piped up.

"Huh?" I looked up to her, "Oh, uh, no they're fine. I just, never mind." I shook my head.

"Anyways, at least we survived the moon last night!" Taylor clapped her hands together happily.

"Yeah, let's at least be happy for that." I put on a fake smile, but I didn't dare to look at either girl in the eye. The two girls glanced at each other, only for Taylor to give off a disapproving sigh.

"Hayley, we know that you're still upset about the breakup, and I'm sorry for that." Taylor apologized.

"Same with me. If there was any other way to save him without him finding out, I would have. But, there wasn't. Again, really sorry."

"Don't apologize Kylie, there's nothing you can do about it. If anything, I'm happy that you helped him."

"We've tried everything to get your mind off him. Just name something that'll make you happy and we'll go do it." Taylor hopelessly smiled. All week that's all they've been doing, making failed attempts to cheer me up. Well newsflash for both of them, I couldn't be cheered up.

"I appreciate it guys," I lied, "I just have to figure this out on my own, okay?"

"Are you sure? We're here if you need to talk. Any—"

"I'd rather not talk about it." I cut off Taylor.

"Okay." They softly answered.

"Yeah, so if you excuse me, I'm going to go get dressed." I picked up my untouched plates and put them up to the sink. I made my way upstairs and I could hear the last few comments from my friends.

"I feel bad."

"Ky, you can't do anything at this point. He already knows."

"I know, she's just so miserable."

"She's strong, she'll get over it sooner or later." Taylor thought.

The beach. There was no place like it. The sand and the ocean, no other place could duplicate its serene and tranquil mood it made you go in. Maybe that's why I was here for today—for that peaceful feeling that covered up all my worries, even thought they were right under that fake shell that could easily break within moments. That's why I came here, to forget about all of that for a few hours. Three hours ago, I left Kylie's house right after I changed into a normal pair of clothes. I decided that I needed some alone time, and I pretended to have to go take care of Logan…for the fifth time. Now as I walked, squishing my toes into the warm golden sand, I tried to block out all the thoughts in my mind that I couldn't get out of my head back at Kylie's. I heard a playful squeal of a little girl nearby. Looking up, I found a girl four or give proudly hovered above a half crumpled and poorly built sand castle. A smiling curly brunette, looking to be the girl's mother, proudly snapped a photo with her high tech camera. Moving my way past them, my eyes wandered to other beach goers. Couples sat together on blankets, kissing or tanning, while some just walked along the shoreline holding hands. But I just walked on as if I was oblivious to the world around me. Moving on. A long chain of hotels lined up the coastline while a myriad of umbrellas and beach towels stuck firmly in the sand. The shuffles of ice coolers, clacking of soda and beer cans, the seagulls calling for food, and the laughter of children made me cringe. Why was everybody so happy besides me? My eyes moved back to the brunette and dirty blonde surfer boy taking a leisurely walk on the shoreline. Waves washed up on her feet and I could tell she loved the feeling of digging her feet in the wet sand. The boyfriend stopped walking and pulled her in for a kiss. This made me look away. That could never be Stefan and I, I could never take a casual walk on the beach with him, or even go into the water with him, because I was a fish freak. Now, these were the times where I hated my extraordinary gift. There were times like these I would give anything to be a sappy teenage girl in some romance novel walking on the beach with her boyfriend. But no, apparently that didn't happen in real life. Apparently having fins and scales did. Keeping my way clear of the children splashing and running out of the ocean-dripping wet, I changed my path and walked up the beach. The last thing I needed was to grow a tail in front of everyone. I passed more happy couples and friends, giggling foolishly and talking. I had to get my mind off this. And the perfect place to do that would be the café. Food would get this subject off my mind. Besides, junk food is the key to a girls heart when they're depressed.

"_I don't get it. How does this happen? How do you, you know, turn?" Stefan asked Kylie. Silently I had my arms crossed over my chest waiting for Kendall to come and save me from this awkward moment._

"_I don't know how it happens. Ten seconds after I touch water I turn."_

"_So if water gets on you?"_

"_Then I have ten seconds to dry off."_

"_Wow, that must be complicated." Stefan said, looking at Kylie in awe. His eyes were wonderstruck. He was amazed by the fact she was some mythical creature. I could see it by the way he looked at her. At that moment, I knew things had changed for the worst. And for the first time in my life, I felt jealous. I hated Kylie at that moment, but it was the jealousy talking. He looked at her like she was a goddess, like she was ten times better than I was. It hurt. Not like just a simple heart break, but it felt like your heart had been broken then crushed into a thousand tiny pieces as you watched your boyfriend love your best friend. It hurt that bad._

"_It is, but I just got to deal with it." Kylie looked behind her to see if Kendall was anywhere close. She looked to me and gave me an 'you okay?' look. I didn't answer her back._

I came out of my flashback to those two weeks ago when Stefan had found out. It killed me then, and it was killing me now. But keeping on thinking about it wasn't an option, but it sure felt like it was the only thought in my brain right now. Walking my way to the café, I slowed down my pace when I began passing the marina. It reminded me of when Kendall found out about Taylor, and he learned to accept her. Now they were happy and dating. Then I saw it. I saw him. He was standing on the marina dock handing something to another person who I couldn't see in his boat. He then disappeared when he stepped into his boat. Seeing Stefan again made me feel pained. I couldn't go on with this, I've been ignoring him and it was killing him and me. What if we dated without him knowing? This felt like I was back at square one again, but it was better than nothing. He did promise me he wasn't in love with Kylie, and Kylie even admitted that he talked to her pleading for her to talk with me to win me back. Taking a deep and brave breath, I started to walk over to where he was. As I passed by the boats, I finally was able to see who he was sitting in the boat with, Cameron Miller, the obnoxious best friend. I tried to stop myself realizing what I was doing and how stupid I was, but I was listening to my heart and my legs kept on walking. I had to get this over with sooner or later. My heart began beating faster when I saw his face looking down at his toolbox. He was fixing up his brand new boat his dad had bought for him a week and a half ago after his old one was sunken in the storm. The Zodiac still looked the same, nothing about it was different, accept this time, it wasn't half under water. My body stopped in front of the boat and Cameron looked up to me. He nudged his friend and pointed his finger up to me. Stefan looked up and his expression changed. His face had become solemn and stiff. He dropped the tool and stood up.

"Keep it running, I won't be long." He told Cameron, who seemed annoyed by my presents. We walked a few feet away from his friend and I crossed my arms over my chest, contemplating how I would start out this conversation.

"I've been thinking and we have to talk." I began.

"If you've come here to tell me we can't possibly be together, then I'll save you the trouble. We can't possibly be together."

"Is that what you really want?" My expression dropped and every muscle in my face loosened. Did he really not want me?

"Of course not. But you've been ignoring me for as week, what else do you want me to do? I'm not going to keep harassing you. If this is what you want, so be it. But what's the real problem here?" My mind began thinking if I should tell him or not. My heart was screaming yes why my mind was blinking in big red letters 'danger, danger'. Stefan wasn't any danger, he would have told about Kylie already. At least that's what my heart wanted to believe.

"Okay, but you've got to promise—" I started but was soon cut off. It was a sign I shouldn't tell him.

"Come on!" Cameron whined from his sitting spot in the boat.

"Yeah, in a minute Cam." He looked to him furiously for interrupting.

"Forget it, I shouldn't have come. Sorry." I shook my head and began walking away until Stefan grabbed my arm.

"Wait, Hayley. You obviously want to tell me something." He kept his hold on my arm. "You can trust me." He looked me in the eyes. I bit my lip and frustratedly tried to figure out what to do in my head. But in a matter of seconds, I heard the roaring of a motor and then I felt water seeping through every article of clothing I was wearing. Stefan jumped back, his clothing soaked too. Cameron's obnoxious laugh rang in my ears.

"You idiot!" I turned around and screamed to him.

"Calm down, it's only water." He laughed.

"Help me." I turned back to Stefan. He looked at me confused for a moment, then it registered into his brain. He couldn't form words, his mouth was just open, but nothing was coming out. I looked around my surroundings, trying to find an easy way out so Cameron didn't see me.

"Get out of here. Now." He demanded. I began running towards the end of the pier.

"Now!" He yelled. His hand slipped off of my arm as I quickly ran to my target spot.

"My boat, Cam. Don't mess with it!" He yelled to his friend. When I knew he had Cameron's attention focused on him, I jumped off the in between another branch of the dock leading off to another section and into the water. Almost immediately, I could feel myself change and in seconds, I was jetting my way off to Bristol.

**Stefan's P.O.V:**

I grabbed a few wrenches from the tool box so I could fix the new Zodiac dad just bought me after the last one sank. After all the work I'd put in with the other one, it was wasted. Now I had to put double time on this one. Besides, I needed a little guy work to get certain things off my mind. While searching through the tools, Cameron tapped me. I looked up and was shocked to see Hayley standing there. She looked beautiful, and she wasn't even trying in her blue shirt, white shorts, and black sneakers. She didn't even have to try. Though I tried, I couldn't stop thinking about her since she broke up with me. All over Kylie Henderson, who happened to be half mermaid. Believe me, it still freaked me out. Hayley had thought that I had just grown so obsessed over Kylie and her tail, that I loved her best friend more than her. I could see why she would say that after the many questions I'd been asking my girlfriend, but still, I didn't want her breaking up with me. But now, after a week of her ignoring me, she stood there silently. This was probably some talk about how I needed to stop calling her, which I did two days ago.

"Keep it running, I won't be long." I told Cameron and I got out of the boat. I knew Cameron didn't like Hayley, but he would have to deal with her being here for a few minutes. We walked away from him and I looked at my ex-girlfriend, she looked deep in thought.

"I've been thinking and we have to talk."

"If you've come here to tell me we can't possibly be together, then I'll save you the trouble. We can't possibly be together." I shrugged it off, like it was nothing. But it was killing me inside.

"Is that what you really want?" She looked hurt.

"Of course not. But you've been ignoring me for as week, what else do you want me to do? I'm not going to keep harassing you. If this is what you want, so be it. But what's the real problem here?" She was deep in thought again. She hesitated to answer me.

"Okay, but you've got to promise—" She began but my friend cut her off.

"Come on!" Cameron whined. I wanted to kill him.

"Yeah, in a minute Cam." I gritted through my teeth. He knew how much I'd been wanting to talk to her, now he was annoyed that she was talking to me.

"Forget it, I shouldn't have come. Sorry." She shook her head and began to walk away. I grabbed ahold of her arm, not wanting her to leave me so soon.

"Wait, Hayley. You obviously want to tell me something." I kept hold on her arm. "You can trust me." I looked her in the eyes. Whatever she wanted to tell me she could trust me with. She bit her lip. My attention was soon brought to the sound of my boat motor running up and then I felt water soak through my shirt and pants. I jumped back, startled at what happened. Cameron laughed profusely. Hayley's eyes grew wide and turned to my friend.

"You idiot!" She screamed to him.

"Calm down, it's only water." He said in between laughs. Hayley turned back to me.

"Help me." She begged. Help me? He just sprayed her, what was the big deal? _Calm down, it's only water…_

"_Ten seconds after I touch water, I turn." Kylie explained._

"_So if water gets on you?" I asked her._

"_Then I have to dry off in ten seconds." The mermaid girl said._

She was a mermaid. Hayley was a mermaid. Kylie had lied about being the only one. That's why she always made excuses to not go in the water. That's why she was so upset about me being 'in love' with Kylie. That's why she was so upset about me knowing. Kylie had lied about being the only one. I stood there absolutely speechless. My mouth was open but I didn't know what to say.

"Get out of here. Now." I told her. She began running.

"Now!" He yelled." My hand slipped off her arm. I hopped in my boat and shut off the motor.

"My boat, Cam! Don't mess with it!" I yelled. She wasn't even close to the end of the pier yet, so I watched her dive off the side without even stopping. A wave of relief washed over me, she was safe.

"Lighten up" Cameron turned around, "hey, where'd she go?" He obliviously looked back to where Hayley had just jumped in. He had no clue where she was, but he dropped the subject.


	20. Explain

**A/N: Hi! I'm back! I'm here! So guess what guys? H2o's back! Well back on TV that is. Season 3 is being premiered on Teen Nick for everyone on the US! YAY LOL! Anyways, idk what im gonna do with this story. I've been lacking inspiration because of reviews and personal reasons. I feel like it'll go in the same direction as normal h2o. SO idk if ill continue this, but if I do, I'll be updating more. Besides that, happy new year guys! Hope its awesome! **

_Chapter Twenty:_

_Expain_

My head broke surface up against the moon pool after a long swim by myself. I didn't remember how long I was swimming for, and I didn't remember much. I guess I had just jumped in and swam to forget about all my problems—whatever they were. Swimming had worked on forgetting them all. Them being Stefan. The moment my head popped up a bright flash caught my attention. I opened my eyes and realized a crowd of people surrounded me. They were all staring at my tail. Then I noticed something, I knew these people. Stefan was crouching at the edge of the sand where it hit the Moon Pool. Then there were people I didn't know, but they looked like scientist in their white lab coats. My parents, Logan, Cameron, Kylie, Taylor, and Kendall were farther behind him. Cameron and Kendall were both holding professional cameras. They took pictures of me.

"Say cheese, Hayley." Stefan's voice echoed in the room. Another flash went off. I tried blocking my face. I took a few glimpses at the face my parents, they looked disgusted.

"How could you do this to us? Not telling us you're a fish?" They said with hatred in every word they spoke.

"See, I knew she was a freak! She's a mermaid for crying out loud." Cameron joined in.

"How did you even find me?" I cried.

"You could thank me later." Stefan said with a smile on his lips.

"You did this? Stefan, I thought you were okay with Kylie being one."

"Kylie being one?" Everyone looked at her and laughed, "Kylie's normal."

"Don't bring me into this fish-girl." Kylie looked at me like Cassie Bianichi would, like I was a disgusting piece of trash.

"What? You guys are bailing on me? I thought we were together in this." I furrowed my brows.

"They're right Hayley! You are a freak of nature! You mer-freak!" My brother spat. I never liked him.

"No! Guys! They're just like me!" I yelled, splashing water onto them.

"Ew!" They both squealed. Nothing happened. They kept their legs.

"Bu-wha-how! You changed with me." I stated. Stefan slid out his brand new iPhone from his pocket and snapped a picture of me and my trail.

"Well this is going on Facebook." He smirked.

"No, Stefan, please don't." I began to cry, letting down my guard.

"Thank you Mr. Montgomery, the money for your discovery will be available to you in the next few days." One of the scientists began jotting down notes onto a clipboard.

"Stefan how could you sell me out like this?"

"I never loved you and I never will. No one will with you being some mermaid freak. Your live is over. Your going into a lab." He shrugged like it was nothing.

"No, no, no, no." I shook my head.

"Come on Hayley, it's time to go to the lab." The scientists walked closer and closer to the moon pool. I began hearing a loud ringing noise that made me think I was going crazy.

"No, please, no—" I pleaded. I woke up with a close to silent gasp. My eyes shot open and so did my body; I could barely catch my breath. Confusion and fog were hazing my vision and thoughts. I felt out of it. Once my vision was in line, I noticed I wasn't in my bed or even in my house. I was at Bristol, sleeping on the dirt floors of the forest ground. I continued to hear that weird ringing noise that began at the conclusion of my dream. Realizing it was coming from my pocket, I slid my phone out of my shorts and looked at the screen. It was yet another call from Stefan. I pressed the ignore button for the 'x' time since late yesterday afternoon. God, how long have I been out? It was one in the afternoon? God, for sleeping on a hard and cold ground, I had slept for a while. Long story short, I never went home last night. Telling my parents that I was sleeping over Kylie's house was the brightest and most daring lie I've ever told besides the usual 'I'm fine' and the big hiding of my secret. I spent my night swimming around the outskirts of Bristol, wading in the Moon Pool, and walking around Bristol—which eventually led me to passing out from pure exhaustion in the spot I currently was sitting in. I looked through my phone seeing that I had eighteen missed calls and seven texts from Stefan. The voicemails from him all said the same, so I didn't bother listening. 'Where are you, I'm sorry, please talk to me, we've got to straighten this out, please call me back I need to know where you are' they all repeated. Looking at the texts from this morning from him, I saw one that got me startled. Then the next one, then the next one turned worse. 'I went to your house and your mom said you were at Kylie's, I'm going there. Don't leave,' One of them said. 'We can't find you anywhere, would you please call us?' the other one said. We? Us? Quickly pressing the back button, I saw three texts from the girls. 'We're coming to Bristol to get you. Stefan told us everything, it's fine, we understand, everything's okay. You've got to come home, we'll come get you,' a large message from Kylie said. They were coming here, so I had to get out. I didn't want anyone, especially the girls, to find me in a state like this. I picked myself off the ground and began walking towards the ocean.

"She's got to be here somewhere." I could hear Taylor's voice way behind me.

"She's not in the moon pool and she's no where on Bristol. She might have gone back home."

"Well we can't just call her parents and ask her if she's there because they think she's with us."

"I guess we should just keep looking. We'll trade with Stefan." Kylie sighed. Their voices were getting closer and closer. _Stefan_, I cringed at the sound of his name. He was the last person I wanted on my mind.

"Should we check the Moon Pool again?" Taylor asked.

"Sure." Kylie agreed as usual. I kept still and silent until I heard their footsteps go in the opposite direction of where I was headed. After their voices slowly disappeared, I quietly began jogging to the beach. Ever so often I'd turn my head around to make sure no one was there. But that was just me being careful so that I could continue to be my lonesome depressed self. Running into the ocean, I counted down the seconds in my head like the usual routine I do. Once I hit nine and a half, my body dove underneath the cool water and formed a tail. I still couldn't get used to that. I don't think I ever would be able to. I got myself to lower depths and began swimming freely. But I was being careful to look out for the girls so I stayed close to the bottom near the sand. And when I caught a glimpse of them coming out of the entrance to the Moon Pool, I hid myself inside one of the large arched coral structures. The girls looked at each other, shrugged, and began swimming off slowly. I watched them until thy became tiny dots in my vision and then they disappeared from my viewpoint. I let out a breath I was holding in and watched it come out as bubbles. I came out of my hiding spot and began swimming around aimlessly. I couldn't help but think how I wanted to stay down here forever. Spending my night out on Bristol forced me to think about how my life was going to change because I let something slip as easy as it did. The only reason I had moved from staying in the moon pool in the first place was because I knew Stefan would come looking for me, he'd probably force the girls into telling him where. For all I knew, for all I thought, Stefan was telling the world my secret right now. The only reason the girls were looking for me was so we could get out of the country so we weren't going to be dissected or anything like that. Ugh, I could barely think of the things Stefan was going around telling people. I was scared, really scared. The fact that I hadn't heard from my parents made me wonder if they were to disgusted to speak with me or they weren't told yet. Either way, it was bad.

Sitting with my back against the rock wall of the Moon pool, I kept one leg out and one leg bent. Using my pointer finger, I drew a heart in the sand. I looked at it for a second with a small bit of hope then smudged it with my hand, erasing everything. It was just a pile of sand now. I had been sitting in here for hours knowing the girls wouldn't come back here to look for me. My parents had even asked me when I was coming home, and I told them later tonight. I lied, again. I sighed, tilting my head back against the wall. What has my life come to? It's all lies. All of it. Things were going to have to change. Everything was going to have to be different. Maybe there was a way I could bribe Stefan into not telling everybody or telling scientists about me. He liked money; I could bribe him with something—money, jewelry, anything. Then something caught my attention. It sounded like a footstep. Snapping my head up, I found Stefan hesitantly standing at the 'on-foot' entrance of the Moon Pool.

"Hey." He awkwardly greeted like he could barely talk, "how are you?" he added.

"What's it to you?" I gave him a death glare and got up from my spot on the cold, hard, ground.

"Hayley, we've got to talk about this. It's important." He looked guilty. He had told someone hadn't he?

"Stefan, this is not the best time." I warned.

"Then when is? I went to your house, your parents said you were at Kylie's, she didn't know what the hell I was talking about. I looked for you, everywhere, just because I knew you were upset about this."

"That's an understatement." I gave him another glare, "listen, I don't know what you've told everyone about me. I don't know—"

"You think I told people about you?" He looked at me like I was an idiot.

"I don't know what you did, but I do know one thing. You need to stay away from me."

"What? No, Hayley, we've got to talk this out, I want to know about this whole thing."

"Stefan, leave. I don't even know how you found me here." I demanded.

"But Hale, we—" he continued. Alright, he was going to stay in my secluded secret spot, so I had to leave. Taking two steps in front of me, I walked towards the Moon Pool.

"Get lost Stefan." I said, slyly. I raised my arms above my head and dove into the pool. The water soaked every inch of me, but that feeling would soon go away. Even when I didn't have my tail, I kept on kicking with my feet. But soon enough, my legs and feet had morphed into an orange scaly tail. Back in the Moon Pool, a frustrated Stefan ran a hand through his hair and looked down to the and passed around it for a moment before he decided to do something that he wouldn't do for any other girl—go after her. Copying exactly what I did, he dove into the Moon Pool. He found it to be surprisingly deep even though it looked shallow. The water was perfectly clear but sine Stefan wasn't part fish, it was hard for him to see. It was like being in a pool, his vision was fuzzy, his eyes burned more. But he continued to swim and he soon caught sight of a brightly golden orange colored tail. His adrenaline kicked in and he began swimming faster. But I didn't know.

Something grabbed onto my fin. I gasped, sucking a bit of water into my mouth. Turning around, I excepted to see a large fish or shark, but instead I found Stefan with his hand on my fin. And it looked like he wouldn't let go. He pointed upwards, motioning for me to go up. I had forgotten he couldn't hold his breath forever. I sighed, my breath coming out as bubbles, then nodded my head and immediately. He kicked up with his legs and I flicked my tail. Granted, he got there before me because he weighed less. My tail weighted a lot.

"You can't run and hide forever." He said, his hair sticking to the front of his face.

"I don't want to talk about this with you. I saw how you treated me after you found out about Kylie. You were obsessed. I can't trust you with this."

"Why? You think I'll tell someone? You think I'm going to hate you? I'm not going to judge you."

"Your you Stefan. People don't change. The old you would grab a hold of something like that so they could get a million dollars, you wouldn't even think about how it would affect the person. You can't sell me out."

"I'm not going to! I don't need money, I don't need fame, and I don't need any of that. I don't care about this. None this this changes a thing.

"I wish I could believe you." My voice cracked.

"It doesn't change who you are. I still like you. Tail or no tail." I thought about it for a minute.

"Fine. I'm getting rid of every standard I've ever given myself for trusting people like you."

"I'm taking that as a yes and that we're continuing our very strange but perfect relationship." He smirked. I nodded and he kissed me.

"Come on, we can't stay out here forever." Stefan said, "well, I mean you could but you know I can't exactly—" he added.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Let's go."

"Would you mind explaining this all to me? It's all kind of new and really confusing because everything I ever thought about there not being magic is out the window."

"How did you do that?" Stefan looked at me speechless. I had just finished drying myself off and I grew my legs back.

"I've got powers. We all do—heat, ice, and water control."

"You can do all three of those?" he looked at me wide eyed.

"Hold still." I demanded. I outstretched my arm and balled my fist and dried Stefan off after fifteen seconds.

"To answer your question, no. I only have heat. Kylie's got water and Taylor's got ice."

"That's incredible."

"Next question."

"How did you get your…" he looked at my legs.

"Tail." I plainly said. "It was right here. And it was the day we stole your boat. We got stranded since the engine burned up and we paddled here. We went exploring, we fell down that hole, and we sat here for a while then got the guts to go in. When we did it started bubbling and the next day we woke up it happened."

"This is just…wow."

"It takes some getting used to," I paused, "It's not everyday when you touch water and ten seconds later your sprout a tail."

"You could have just told me."

"No, I couldn't." I sighed, pushing my back up against the wall then sliding down it and sitting on the sand again.

"I understand it was a big secret. Moving on." He sat down next to me. "Is it weird? I don't get how you can go to the beach and see people going into the ocean."

"I don't know why, but I always do that to myself. I put myself in so much torture and watch these normal girls in amazement because they can go out in public and they don't have to worry about getting water on them."

"Isn't it all worth it?"

"At times I think so. Then there's some moments where I kind of wish I could be normal again."

"Come on, it's got to be fun."

"It is. We have perfect vision underwater, we can swim faster than dolphins, and I've seen the most incredible sights that no one could ever seen, well besides the girls and me…and divers. But we can hold our breath for more than fifteen minutes so we don't have to keep going up for air. It's amazing, I can barely describe it. But then there's the times where I regret it like when the full moon rolls around. If we look at it, we become under this weird influence and we're totally captivated by it and do crazy things."

"Are there stories that comes with these swimming adventures?" He smirked.

"There's the time that I totally beat up Kendall because of the full moon, during Homecoming, which was also a full moon, Kylie looked at it and got all crazy,"

"That's why you were there and in a hurry."

"I once swam around with a dolphin for a few hours, and then there's the time I saved you from a fifteen foot shark." I smirked.

"That was you?" His mouth dropped.

"What, you think water just happened to heat up and bubble by itself?"

"Oh my God, that was you." He said, astonished.

"You can thank me later." I bit my lip and laughed.

"No wonder you believed me. You were the one who did it."

"Hey, at least I was there when I was." I put my head on his shoulder.

"I can't believe that was you. Thank you." He smiled and kissed my cheek. _Aww, he's adorable,_ I said to myself.

"Believe it. Come on; let's get out of here. I have some explaining to do with the girls."


End file.
